Pakistan Doctors’ Association Wednesday demanded the government impose the strictest lockdown restrictions immediately to stem COVID-19 and ban all congregational prayers.

The doctors’ body warned that the government should take responsibility and ban all kinds of congregational prayers otherwise the virus would spread in the next two weeks speedily. “People need to recognise the gravity of the problem,” Dr Abdul Bari said.

The doctors urged people of Karachi to strictly implement social distancing and requested business community and traders not to open the shops, as it would lead towards exponential growth in COVID-19 cases.

“Saving lives is foremost important in the pandemic. All must think as almost all the Islamic countries have closed the mosques including the two Holy Mosques. Religious clerics must urge people to offer prayers Taraweeh at their homes.”

Doctors’ Association warned of more cases if the negligence prevails. The said doctors and healthcare workers were also contracting coronavirus and if this trend continues no one would be left to treat the patients.

Dr Abdul Bari said this was not all about ventilators and they additionally need equipment and approximately on one patient Rs6 million budget would be spent. He said the government did not have resources to provide even the personal protective equipment to the health workers and how it can provide the required resources to treat all the patients if numbers surge.

He said Karachi's hospitals have already stretched to capacity including the makeshift hospital at expo centre and if the cases increased they would have no space to admit patients and treat them in the hospitals. 

“We have seen our senior and junior doctors fighting against the COVID-19. We are running out of capacity and beds and if the number surge then hospitals would have no space to tackle.”

Dr Saad Naiz said doctor’s community has serious concerns and if the situation would not tackle properly then doctors have to treat patients on streets and in their homes.

It is pertinent to note that, President Arif Alvi had outlined a 20-point safety strategy prepared in consensus with country’s Ulema as a part of standard operating procedures SOPs to control the spread of the coronavirus during Ramazan which starts this week.

The president declared that any violation of this 20-point safety strategy would tantamount to committing a sin.

President Alvi last Saturday after meeting the religious scholars from all schools of thought in Islamabad said the government and religious scholars have agreed on a 20-point agenda to perform the taraveeh and namaz during Ramazan.