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Islamabad, Pakistan– Pakistan has seen its biggest increase in deaths in a single day from the coronavirus, with 17 new cases bringing the country’s death toll from the highly contagious virus to at least 192, according to government data.
The largest single-day increase in cases in Pakistan was also recorded Monday, with 705 confirmed cases bringing the country’s count to 9,214, according to the data.
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The country has been facilitating its closure to prevent an economic crisis from stopping growth.
So far, at least 2,053 patients have recovered from COVID-19 in the country, leaving the active case count at 6,969.
The increase in cases came along with a modest increase in testing capacity, as the government aims to increase up to 25,000 tests per day.
Pakistan has conducted 111,806 tests, or 0.53 tests for every thousand people.
However, the government appears to be a long way from its target, with only 5,347 tests conducted on Monday, according to government data.
After an initial outbreak caused mainly by cases of travelers from neighboring Iran and other countries, Pakistan has seen an increase in local transmission of the virus, which accounted for 65 percent of all cases as of this week, the health minister de facto from the country, Zafar Mirza told reporters.
Mirza also said the government was working on creating a platform to allow Pakistani doctors from the global diaspora to return to the country and assist efforts to combat the coronavirus.
On Sunday, medical unions across the country formed the Grand National Health Alliance in protest at what they say is the lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and other steps to keep doctors safe from the virus.
The move came days after young doctors protesting the lack of PPE kits clashed with police outside a main government building in the eastern city of Lahore. A group of protesters is conducting a hunger strike at that protest site, demanding better protection for health workers.
Ramadan measures
On Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met with senior religious leaders from across the country to reiterate the government’s commitment to reopen mosques under a set of 20-point guidelines to ensure adequate physical distance.
“The delegation of religious leaders fully supported the prime minister’s position on the closure,” said a statement released by Khan’s office after the meeting. “The religious leaders assured [the government] of your full cooperation. “
Mirza, the health minister, said all the religious leaders, some of whom had unilaterally declared that they would reopen mosques for congregational prayers last week, agreed that they would comply with the government’s code of conduct.
“Religious leaders have taken responsibility for implementing those SOPs,” he said. “In this regard, there is an understanding that if, God forbid, we discover that the virus is spreading faster because of this, then we will take appropriate action, while taking [leaders] confidentially.”
The government’s plan to reopen mosques includes ensuring that the faithful are more than two meters (six feet) from each other; remove prayer rugs and mosque floor rugs; and cleaning mosque floors with chlorinated disinfectants.
The government has also banned elderly and sick people from attending prayers, has called for ablutions to be performed in the home, and for all the faithful to wear face masks. Prayer leaders have been told to discourage discussions among the faithful after the conclusion of the prayers.
The plan also has specific arrangements for special “tarawih” prayers observed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which will begin later this week. Mosques will hold limited tarawih prayers, and will not be allowed to serve meals to break the fast at sunset or before the fast at dawn.
Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s digital correspondent in Pakistan. Tweet @AsadHashim.
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