COVID-19: Pak SC orders shopping malls, markets to remain open seven days a week
ISLAMABAD: Observing that shopkeepers in Pakistan will "die of hunger rather than the Coronavirus" and that the virus does not go anywhere on Saturdays and Sundays, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered that shopping malls and markets should be allowed to operate throughout the week across the country.
Markets and shopping malls in Pakistan were shut down during the lockdown imposed to curb the Coronavirus pandemic.
A five-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed was hearing a suo moto case regarding measures taken against the virus outbreak.
During the hearing, Justice Ahmed remarked that if shops are shut down then shopkeepers will "die of hunger rather than the Coronavirus".
Rejecting the provincial governments' logic to keep markets closed on weekends to reduce the spread of the virus, he said, keeping businesses shut for certain days in a week violates the Constitution.
"Coronavirus does not go anywhere on Saturday and Sunday. What is the reason behind keeping markets closed on Saturday and Sunday?" Justice Ahmed asked. The chief justice also questioned the "logic" behind keeping malls closed and ordered that shopping malls and markets should remain open seven days a week.
Pakistan on Monday reported 1,974 fresh cases of Coronavirus, taking the total infections in the country to over 42,000 with 903 deaths, the health ministry said.
Out of total 42,125 patients, 16,377 cases have been detected in Sindh, 15,346 in Punjab, 6,061 in Khyber-pakhtunkhwa, 2,692 in Balochistan, 997 in Islamabad, 540 in Gilgit-baltistan and 112 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.