Concerns that Eid would lead to Covid spike in Pakistan - BBC News

Concerns that Eid would lead to Covid spike in Pakistan - BBC News

pakistan is experiencing a third wave of

coronavirus infections with cases

shooting up last month doctors say the

terrible scenes across the border in

india have helped persuade people to

take more precautions

but there are concerns that the eid

festival will lead to a dangerous spike

so a partial lockdown is now in place

secunda kamani reports from lahore

friday prayers in lahore at this mosque

plenty of masks

but no social distancing throughout the

holy month of ramadan

congregational prayers have continued

beds for critically ill patients in the

city have been filling up

in public hospitals around 75 percent

are occupied

outside families wait anxiously a few

weeks ago

it seemed the healthcare system was

about to be overwhelmed

since then admissions have actually

fallen but the danger of another bigger

spike

after eid is very real we

do believe that there is some level of

fear in the mind of the people now about

the disease

uh seeing the horrific pictures from

from india and from elsewhere

obviously we are have limited resources

we have limited number of bets really

if the number of cases overwhelm the

infrastructure available in the hospital

that is going to be a very very

a painful situation

at this market last week shoppers with

masks

but out in force the lead-up to the eid

festival

is usually the busiest time of the year

for retailers

but now a partial lockdown is in place

to try and reduce transmission rates

all non-essential businesses are closed

until next week

the security forces have been called in

to help enforce the rules

what happens over eid is going to be

crucial in preventing the healthcare

system from becoming overwhelmed

this is an important part of that but an

even bigger challenge is going to be

where the families decide to have

their own gatherings at home and that's

going to be even harder to control

the only way we can do that at the

houses level

is to request and appeal the people to

behave more responsibly obviously it is

not possible for us to

reach reach out every house and every

household a vaccination campaign

is underway but it's moving slowly with

under four million doses administered so

far

for now all the focus is on avoiding a

spike

in the coming days sekanda kamani bbc

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