Islamists are frustrating Pakistan’s fight against coronavirus

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Pakistan currently sits at 2,042 alongside 26 deaths. With only limited healthcare facilities, the country is facing a perilously delayed reaction. Most of Pakistan’s initial cases were pilgrims returning from places like Iran and Saudi Arabia. But the virus quickly spread thanks to a failure to screen and quarantine. Even so, almost a third of the infections in Pakistan are now being spread from within the community. That figure is expected to rise owing to a combination of appalling mismanagement and masochistic inaction.

Such failures can be gauged by the state’s refusal to shut down the mosques. Weeks after reporting its first coronavirus cases, and over a month since Saudi Arabia and Iran banned prayers in the holiest Islamic mosques, Pakistan has continued allowing Islamic congregations to gather.

After letting the Friday prayers go ahead on 20 March, allowing millions across the country to come into contact with one another, the government refused to shut down mosques across the country last Friday as well.