Peshawar orders closure of marriage halls amid coronavirus fears

PESHAWAR: The district administration has ordered marriage halls to shut down on Sunday over the coronavirus scare despite the festive wedding season as preventive measures were implemented to thwart the pandemic from spreading.

Venues closed down as per district administration's orders even as numerous marriages were scheduled and many wedding-goers were turned away and told to return to their homes.

An eerie silence blanketed the city as people remained confined to their homes and opted to only venture out for necessities, including food and medicines, and the otherwise joyous wedding season just dried up.

On the other hand, owners of the marriage halls expressed worries that the closure would severely impact their businesses. They said they had shuttered down their day-to-day operations and revoked all prior bookings as per the government's orders regardless.

According to the Depute Commissioner Peshawar, all public gatherings were officially banned in the public's interest to prevent coronavirus — which has infected 52 people across Pakistan so far — from spreading.

As of Sunday evening, Punjab reported its first case, while four were reported earlier in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Sindh has a total of 34 confirmed cases, with Karachi (20) and Sukkur (13) being the worst-affected cities so far and one case in Hyderabad.

Of the rest, three were in Gilgit-Baltistan and at least 10 cases confirmed in Balochistan, including one in Quetta and seven at the Taftan border.

Globally, more than 5,800 people have died and more than 156,000 have been infected by COVID-19 as the disease spreads rapidly in new territories.