Guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus in wedding ceremonies

The National Command and Operation Center imposed a ban on indoor and outdoor wedding ceremonies on 28th of March in areas with high coronavirus cases. This was due to the fact that the daily coronavirus cases were increasing rapidly. The positivity rate climbed to 10.44% on the same date this decision was announced and was the highest number recorded since June 21st 2020. And since this rate increased to 11.2% by 30th of March, the fears of the authorities that the cases will rise if wedding ceremonies are held are only more confirmed. Prime Minister Imran Khan himself declared the current coronavirus situation as catastrophic and advised the nation to adopt ways that would decrease the number of cases springing up in the country. It is thus hoped that the government will succeed in controlling the number of daily cases in the country and in case it does and the ban on wedding ceremonies is lifted, the following suggestions should be considered.
In the recent past, I personally observed that while the management of marriage halls encouraged the hosts and guests of the wedding to follow the Safety Operating Procedures, or SOPs, for short, and followed the SOPs themselves, did not monitor whether the hosts and guests are following the SOPs too. This may have led to the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases and so, it is advised by the government to ask the management of these marriage halls to strictly monitor the hosts and guests to check if the hosts and guests are following SOPs or not. Moreover, the management of marriage halls could advise the hosts to limit the number of people attending the marriage to close friends and relatives. Furthermore, each and every one attending the wedding should be checked to see if they are carrying sanitizers, and handed one if they are not. Lastly, the management of marriage halls should advise the hosts to provide the guests with food packages, instead of serving the meals on tables. All these guidelines, if implemented, would significantly decrease the rate of cases in the onslaught of this third deadly wave of coronavirus.
Hafsa Hussain
KARACHI