Coronavirus in Pakistan: Govt mulls imposing ban on meals at weddings

The federal government is considering to reimpose coronavirus restrictions, particularly on weddings due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Speaking to Geo News, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Dr Nausheen  Hamid termed weddings as a "super-spreader" of COVID cases.

Hamid said: "We are considering to completely ban eating at the wedding as it is the peak time when the virus is spread as people remove their masks to eat food."

Hamid further added that this matter will be discussed in the upcoming National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting scheduled to be held in a day or two.

The NCOC, she said, will issue a clear policy highlighting the restrictions on the venue, number of guests at the wedding, etc.

Shedding light on other measures, the PTI leader said that the government's main focus is to ensure standard operating procedures (SOPs) are being followed hence, the officials are trying to make sure that vaccination certificates are being checked at all public places.

"We are going to re-follow the strategy applied previously regarding smart lockdown," she said, adding that lockdowns will only be imposed in areas where necessary.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan's coronavirus positivity ratio jumped over 7% as the country reported 3,567 new cases — the highest since September 10, 2021 — in the last 24 hours, the NCOC data showed Friday morning.

The NCOC said 48,449 tests were conducted across the country out of which 3,567 returned positive taking the positivity ratio to 7.36%. The country last reported an infection rate of 6.64% on August 31, 2021.

With the new infections, the overall tally has risen to 1.315 million, while seven more deaths have taken the death toll to 28,999.