Face mask violations

As Pakistan becomes one of 25 countries which have recorded more than one thousand deaths from Covid-19

Pakistan is now among the only 25 countries of the world which have recorded more than one thousand deaths from the novel coronavirus. To be exact, the country has lost 1,067 lives to the deadly virus — including 50 on Thursday alone — and ranks at 19 in the world in terms of the number of virus-affected people which is 50,694. That a single day tally of the new cases hit 1,932 on Tuesday, 2,193 on Wednesday and 2,603 on Thursday confirms the rising trend — and thus the impact of the gradual ease in lockdown on the movement of people as well as commercial activities.

While social and commercial activities have only been allowed under certain SOPs meant to maintain social distance and contain the spread of the virus, they are being largely violated by the public. For instance, among the various personal protection items, the most important one i.e. face mask is almost completely ignored, rather spurned. Men carry it in their pockets, and women in their purses. Motorists have it on their car’s dashboards. Majority of the people only wear it — and that too very briefly — when told to do so by a policeman on the road or are required to fulfill the very condition for entering a bank or a shopping mall.

Experts say that the coronavirus can be spread simply through speaking, and according to a recent study, we spray thousands of droplets invisible to the naked eye into the air just by uttering the words “stay healthy”. This is what makes this easy precaution of wearing the mask extremely important. And this why, many countries of the world have imposed hefty fines and jail terms on the mask violation. Kuwait and Qatar, showing a zero tolerance, are subjecting the violators in their countries to fines worth $16,200 and $55,000. There are similar fines in Egypt, Oman, Morocco and several other countries. The authorities in our country must follow suit. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2020.

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