People continue to flout corona protection guidelines

Despite the imposition of lockdown across Pakistan by the federal and provincial governments to curb the spread of coronavirus, it has been observed that people are not fully cooperating with the authorities in this regard.

So far, the total confirmed coronavirus cases in the country stand at 4,457 as 194 new cases have been reported on Thursday with two deaths, which took the total deaths to 63 across the country.

In most parts of the country as well as in the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad and adjacent districts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, it has been observed that the people are not fully cooperating with the authorities on this plea or that.

While it has also been observed that the authorities have relaxed the lockdown but safety measures are missing on a large scale, especially in remote and rural areas.

Bazaars and markets in Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been seen open for the past couple of days especially in daytime, while after the evening, most of the shops are closed.

It has also been observed that people coming to buy various items in markers are not following given government guidelines to avert coronavirus. During a visit of five districts including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Haripur and Abbottabad, Business Recorder has observed majority of the people are not complying with the corona protection guidelines including hands sanitizing and wearing facemasks.

People said that either those items were not available in the market or they had gone out of their reach as a facemask costing Rs10 two months ago now was available at Rs40 per mask and a small size hand sanitizer available at Rs140 two months ago, now cost Rs250 per pack.

Moreover, people also said that now staying at home had become impossible for them as their families could not bear hunger and they could not beg, therefore coming out to the workplaces had become inevitable. Harris Qureshi, a fruit seller said, "staying at home will save us from death from coronavirus, but it would ensure our death from hunger.