Amid rising threat of coronavirus pandemic in the country, many recreational spots witnessed usual attendance of visitors in the provincial capital on Sunday defeating the fear of the disease which has so far claimed more than 5000 lives across the world.
According to a survey conducted by Business Recorder, many public parks, especially in private societies, remain opened on Sunday which attracted a large number of people, particularly families, on the weekend. The survey, which is based on visits to three parks; Model Town Park, Bagh-e-Jinnah and Racecourse Park, observed that the visitors including children were not wearing surgical masks by and large owing to skyrocketing prices.
"I come to this place for a walk or exercise daily," said a visitor, Muhammad Amir, at the Model Town Park, while talking to this scribe. He had covered his face with a tissue paper to "protect" himself from the virus. "A few days back, I had gone to a shop to buy surgical masks for me and my family, but the price for each mask was around Rs 500," he said while replying to a question. "Meanwhile, I carried out a research on the internet to find out precautionary measures of the virus. I am not very rich who can easily buy the masks at such high rates," he added, regretting that the "Buzdar government has not even ensured supply of the marks to the market which is a very common item". He added that the prices of hand sanitizers are also out of the reach of a common man.
Hassan Siddique, another visitor, was off the view that the virus "cannot" survive in hot weather. He also cited some "reports" doing rounds on social media and opinions of "health experts". "As the weather was warmer than yesterday, so I decided to spend some time at a park. We should not to worry about this virus as many people have been cured and the chances of death are limited," he said at Racecourse Park.
During questioning, some visitors also expressed similar views while some (senior citizens) emphasized that the outbreak of the virus is actually a "foreign conspiracy" to "flop" China in the world.
The visit also noted that the security guards inside and outside the parks were also not wearing the masks. They said the administration had not provided them the masks as yet. "We are poor people and no one bothers if we live or die. All we can do is a request. We cannot quit our jobs as we have families to feed.
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