Christians celebrate Easter observing corona SOPs

LAHORE:The Christian Community celebrated the blessed event of Easter amid strict vigilance by the Church administration and following the corona SOPs in the provincial capital on Sunday.

The Christian community members were strictly monitored at the churches for the observance of COVID-19 SOPs and a large number of people came fully-prepared to participate in the special Ester prayers with face masks and hand sanitiser.

However, the advice of certain maintaining distance from each other was not observed at some places due a huge number of the Christian community members there The gatherings at churches in the City on this Easter were quite difficult to manage for the church administrations. Easter services yester year were conducted online throughout the world, including Pakistan due to severe onslaught of COVID-19. The Easter services are being held in churches this time.

Although, time and again, the government representatives, including the health authorities, and the Church authorities warned and advised all the Churchgoers to strictly observe the COVID-19 related SOPs, these were not observed at some places by Churchgoers. It was witnessed in some churches of the City that due to a sizable numbers of people, the cautions were thrown to the wind. The Christian community's main places of worship include the Cathedral Church, The Sacred Heart Church and the Girja Chowk Church where Easter prayers and special services took place from about 5am till noon. Special prayers for Pakistan, its people and for relief from the deadly menace of COVID-19 were offered in every church.

After the prayers, the Christian families visited one another's homes to meet and greet and to celebrate the blessed event. The Easter of 2021 was very different due to the prevailing deadly wave of COVID-19 and poor economic conditions in the country. The high prices of everything, closure of all the recreational places and fear of COVID-19 dimmed the festivities of the event.