{"id":16764,"date":"2022-07-31T16:45:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T16:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/?p=16764"},"modified":"2022-07-31T16:45:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T16:45:48","slug":"pakistanis-advised-to-mask-up-at-muharram-gatherings-amid-covid-19-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/?p=16764&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Pakistanis advised to mask up at Muharram gatherings amid COVID-19 outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Mishaal Arshad C.M Underground News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Majalis start across Pakistan as country marks first day of month of Muharram amid COVID surge.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Country reports one COVID death overnight, NIH data shows<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>As many as 661 cases detected in last 24 hours, NIH data shows.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-cnvs-separator-id-1659285672838\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>With Pakistan logging hundreds of COVID-19 cases everyday, the National Institute of Health, Islamabad (NIH) has advised strict adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs), including mask wearing and social distancing during Muharram gatherings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gathering and majalis to remember the Shuhada-e-Karbala (martyrs of Karbala) have started as the country observes the first day of the month of Muharram to mark the beginning of the new Islamic year today (Sunday).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pakistan reported only a single death from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the NIH data showed Sunday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As many as 661 new infections were detected in a single day as the country&#8217;s nerve centre in the fight against coronavirus performed diagnostic tests on 20,080 samples across the country.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Important Message regarding Muharram ul Haram!<br>Adherence to SOPs is the only way to protect yourself against COVID-19! Wear Mask, adhere to Social Distancing and Get yourself Vaccinated! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wJAuCrJlqK\">pic.twitter.com\/wJAuCrJlqK<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NIH_Pakistan\/status\/1553574560376791042?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 31, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The new cases pushed the coronavirus positivity rate in Pakistan to 3.29% and the number of total COVID-19 cases to 1,553,386.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">COVID-19 Statistics 31 July 2022<br>Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 20,080<br>Positive Cases: 661<br>Positivity %: 3.29%<br>Deaths: 01<br>Patients on Critical Care: 171<\/p>&mdash; NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NIH_Pakistan\/status\/1553558290596085761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 31, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, 171 patients suffering from coronavirus are being treated in critical care units at different medical facilities across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"what-are-the-sops-for-muharram\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the SOPs for Muharram?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>NIH has restricted the elderly and children from attending the gatherings and majalis during Ashura in a COVID-safe manner, as the risk of another outbreak looms with uptick of the virus across Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Following are the guidelines for holding gatherings and processions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures i.e mask wearing, social distancing and use of sanitizers\/ hand washing should be adhered to<\/li><li>Organising committees should make arrangements for all SOPs<\/li><li>Zakirs and participants should be vaccinated against COVID-19<\/li><li>Venue for conduct of Majalis should be open and spacious with proper<\/li><li>ventilation arrangements<\/li><li>Wearing of masks and maintenance of social distancing is mandatory during majalis and Processions. Availability of masks and sanitizers\/ hand washes<\/li><li>Controlled participation according to capacity of venues and avoidance of overcrowding<\/li><li>Duration of majalis and processions should be curtailed<\/li><li>Majalis where SOPs cannot be effectively implemented such as<\/li><li>homes and private gatherings should be discouraged<\/li><li>Elderly above 65 years, children and co-morbid may be sensitized to<\/li><li>attend Majalis at home through live streaming<\/li><li>Proper arrangements for cleaning venues with chlorine before and after the events<\/li><li>Display of COVID-19 SOPs and precautions at prominent places<\/li><li>SOPs compliance by employing volunteer scouts<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Miscellaneous aspects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Arrangements for food and drinks in spacious and ventilated place.<\/li><li>Emphasis on use of disposable utensils; preference on pre-packaged boxes for distribution of food.<\/li><li>Avoiding overcrowding at food distribution points\/locations.<\/li><li>No handshake and embracing.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Areas of focus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the aspects meriting necessary actions at the federal and federating units level, include following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Messaging by religious clerics for uniform implementation of SOPs \/guidelines proposed by NCOC.<\/li><li>Strict enforcement of SOPs by civil administration.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mishaal Arshad C.M Underground News Majalis start across Pakistan as country marks first day of month of Muharram&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_grid":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,76,71,38],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"category-important-news","9":"category-latest-news","10":"category-pakistan","11":"cs-entry","12":"cs-video-wrap"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16769,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions\/16769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}