NCOC revises COVID protocols for mosques

• NCOC says only fully vaccinated people will be allowed in mosques.
• NCOC makes masks mandatory, orders removal of carpets.
• Forum also suggests shortening sermon for Friday prayers.

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday revised COVID-19 protocols for mosques and announced that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to pray inside the places of worship.

The NCOC revised mosque protocols a day after Pakistan recorded its highest daily infections count at 7,678 since the pandemic started in 2020.

The body leading Pakistan's COVID-19 response also announced on Friday that all schools with a high COVID-19 positivity ratio would remain closed for one week across the country.

Following are the new restrictions for mosques:

• Mandatory mask wearing;
• Removal of carpet, etc.;
• Maintaining six feet social distancing;
• Elderly and co-morbid to preferably offer prayers at home;
• Frequent hand sanitisation;
• Minimal attendance for the prayers;
• Preferably perform ablution at home;
• Opening of doors/windows for ventilation;
• Preferably organising prayers in open;
• Short sermon for Jumma prayer.

More than 1,000 patients infected with coronavirus have been shifted to critical care across Pakistan, according to official figures, as the COVID situation worsens due to the Omicron variant.

The patients on critical care have reached 1,055, up from 961 a day earlier, after the condition of 94 worsened in the last 24 hours, the NCOC's data showed.

The positivity ratio stood at 11.10%, down from 12.93% a day earlier, as 6,540 infections were reported across the country after 58,902 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the NCOC data showed.

Following the new infections, the overall cases have reached 1.36 million, while 12 more deaths have taken the death toll to 29,077, according to NCOC's data.