Pakistani authorities quarantined 20,000 worshipers and
continue to search for tens of thousands of people who attended an Islamic
rally in Lahore during March, despite the coronavirus pandemic, it was reported
on Sunday.
Pakistani authorities want to test or quarantine attendees
of an event organized by the Tablighi Jamaat - an Islamic missionary movement -
from March 10 to 12, fearing that they are spreading COVID-19 in the country
and in abroad.
More than 100,000 people participated in the event, some
from China, Indonesia, Nigeria or Afghanistan, according to organizers, who
ignored the government, which asked that the event be canceled due to the
pandemic.
At the moment, 5,300 Islamic preachers have been quarantined
in Jiber Pajtunjwa province (northwest), 7,000 in Lahore (center), 8,000 in
Sindh (south) and several dozen of them in Baluchistan (southwest), the
government said.
"Health officials are conducting coronavirus tests and
some have tested positive," Ajmal Wazir, a spokesman for the Jiber
Pajtunjwa region, told AFP on Sunday.
At least 154 faithful who attended tested positive for
coronavirus and two of them died, authorities told AFP.
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