Faisal Mosque in the federal capital was reopened for congregational prayers after one day of closure by the authorities due to violations of the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Islamabad assistant commissioner had visited the mosque on Saturday to review the situation. He had warned that the mosque would be closed again if coronavirus SOPs were not observed.
Islamabad authorities on Saturday had closed to the general public the city’s largest mosque as the capital is seeing a surge in coronavirus infections.
“Faisal Mosque is being closed down for the general public,” Islamabad Additional Deputy Commissioner Rana Waqas Anwar had said in a tweet a day earlier, adding that prayers at the mosque would continue at a “limited scale.”
Faisal Mosque can accommodate 250,000 worshippers at one time. The mosque’s triangular prayer hall alone can squeeze in 100,000 people. It is the largest mosque in South Asia and the fourth largest in the world.
Islamabad, a city of nearly 1.2 million, has imposed a series of new restrictions and partial lockdowns in the past few days to stop the spread of coronavirus. At least 747 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the capital in the past 24 hours — over a fifth of the country’s new cases and the highest number since the beginning of the outbreak in February last year.
