Faisal Mosque's inner hall sealed over violation of SOPs during Friday prayers

The inner hall of Faisal Mosque was sealed by the capital's administration on Sunday after violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) during Friday's congregational prayers.

Prayer congregations will be held in the courtyard, the district administration said.

The inner hall has been closed off for arrangements to ensure that SOPs laid out by the government in order to curb Covid-19 spread are followed.

Lately, government officials have urged religious scholars to ensure that SOPs are being followed in mosques in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The country is currently facing the virus' second wave, which according to experts, is more "lethal" than the first one.

On Thursday, President Arif Alvi issued a declaration to revive the already agreed SOPs (standard operating procedures) for collective prayers in mosques and imambargahs.

The joint declaration was issued after a meeting of more than 86 clerics from the four mainstream schools of thought in the country — Barelvi, Shia, Deobandi and Ahle Hadis — who belonged to all the four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting also called upon the federal and provincial governments as well as the country’s political parties to adopt precautionary measures in view of the growing danger of coronavirus.

The number of cases in Pakistan has exceeded 416,000 and the positivity rate over the past 24 hours, according to Dawn.com's figures, was 7.9 per cent.