New coronavirus Ramadan health guidelines announced in Pakistan

Muslim devotees maintain social distancing as they offer Friday prayers at the Data Darbar Mosque during Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in Lahore on May 1, 2020. (AFP/ File)

• People older than 50 years as well as ado­lescents should not come to mosques and shrines in Ramadan, government says
• Ramadan will start in Pakistan on April 14 this year, the science ministry has announced 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has this week announced new health guidelines for Ramadan which begins in the South Asian nation on April 14, including banning the entry of people older than 50 years and ado­lescents in mosques and shrines during the holy month.

The new Ramadan guidelines come as Pakistan battles a third wave of the coronavirus, recording over 5,000 cases in the last 24 hours, with 81 deaths. 

Earlier this week, Minister for Religious Affairs, Sahibzada Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, announced that mosques around the country would remain open during Ramadan with strict adherence to COVID-19 standard operating procedures. 

Last year after the coronavirus first broke out, a restriction on congregation provoked a backlash in Pakistan, with attacks on police as they attempted to halt prayers at mosques.

Health experts have repeatedly warned that congregations pose the biggest threat to Pakistan’s limited health care resources and infrastructure, which will crumble under the weight of a wide-spread outbreak of the coronavirus.

“Rows of the praying individuals should be aligned so that there is a distance of 6 feet between individuals,” the National Command And Operation Center said in guidelines released this week, saying people should perform ablutions at home. “It is obligatory that mask is worn before coming to mosque or imambargah and not to shake hands or hug anyone in the mosque.”

Unlike in the past, the government had said sehr and iftar, the meals to keep and break the fast respectively, should not be held at mosques or shrines. Typically, mass sehr and iftars are held for poor people at mosques in Muslim countries. The ban will also apply to the seclusion of Itikaf when Muslims spend the last 10 days of the month in mosques to pray and meditate, with the government asking people to seclude at home. 

“If during Ramzan, the government feels that these precautionary measures are not being observed or the number of affectees has risen to a dangerous level, then the government will revise its policy related to mosques and imambargahs, as for other departments,” the NCOC said. “The government has also the right to change the orders and policy regarding severely affected specific areas.”