Pakistan: Death toll due to COVID-19 touches 100 amid defiance by mosques

Meanwhile, four more people died due to the disease in Sindh region.

“The death rate has increased from 2.1% to 2.3% in the province,” Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said in a video statement as reported by Geo News.

Speaking about the new cases in the country, Shah told the news channel that the province has recorded 66 new cases in the last 24 hours and four more deaths to take the provincial tally of fatalities to 35.

“663 tests have been conducted in the last 24 hours out of which 66 came back as positive. So far, we have conducted 14,503 tests,” he shared.

Meanwhile, what might emerge as a trouble for the Pakistan government to contain the outbreak, senior clerics of Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia warned PM Imran Khan and  his team on Monday not to further the restrictions on congregations in mosques, which have been imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Despite the government's pleas to observe social distancing, more than 53 senior clerics of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, belonging to the Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia, held a meeting in Jamia Darul Uloom Zakria, Tarnol, Islamabad to discuss the matter, reported Dawn News.

The meeting was attended by senior clerics representing various seminaries, banned groups, proscribed persons and political and non-political parties, reported the newspaper.

In a bid to fight against COVID-19, the Pakistan government had banned prayer congregations of more than five people.

Meanwhile, Lal Masjid's cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz continues to challenge the authority of Islamabad Capital Territoty (ICT) administration by openly flouting the stipulated precautionary measures, reported Dawn News.