KARACHI: The Karachi Eat food festival will be held on Friday this week despite a surge in coronavirus infections in the port city, organizers and provincial health authorities said on Monday as experts warned against holding the event amid a steady rise in cases, driven by the omicron variant.
The festival, which launched in 2014, attracts hundreds of thousands of foodies each year, offering a diverse range of local and international cuisines and live performances at Karachi’s Beach View Park.
But this year, experts have warned against holding the festival as the health department reported a 15.52 percent positivity rate in Karachi. The positivity rate was 6.62 percent on January 4.
“At the moment the organizers at Karachi Eat are assuring that SOPs [social distancing precautions] will be enforced to the best of their abilities, only vaccinated folks are be allowed entry into the festival and vaccine awareness and boosters will also be provided at the site of the festival,” Mehar Khursheed, a spokesperson for the Sindh health department, said.

Amna Saleem, an organizer for the festival, said strict coronavirus precautions would be imposed at the event.
“Karachi Eat has been thinking a lot about it and have conclusively decided to maintain strict SOPs,” she said. “We have a COVID-19 Prevention partner that’s giving free booster shots at the festival. Sanitization tunnels and hygiene in washrooms are in place. Ambulances and sanitizers would be seen at the festival too.”
She said only people who were fully vaccinated would be allowed to enter and there would be no entry without proof of vaccination or a computerized national identity card. 
“The Karachi Eat management is in talks with the government officials and there’s no sign of lockdown,” she said, adding that the festival organizers would ensure the “best of the best measures.”
“Having said that, if the festival gets postponed, Karachi Eat will make the official announcement early this week,” Saleem said. “In the meanwhile, the management is trying to help out the food industry people and startups and make Karachi Eat the most successful food festival ever.”
Health experts, however, have warned against holding the event.
“The new omicron strain is spreading fast. If the number of cases grows it can mutate to another, a more lethal strain,” Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, Secretary General of the Pakistan Medical Association, told Arab News. “Secondly, the delta variant is also present in the city and it together with omicron may create another strain or make the existing ones from mild to severe.”
“Holding such a huge gathering is very undesirable in such a situation. The government should not only ask the organizers to postpone the event but also take other measures like limiting attendance in marriage ceremonies and other events that are taking place in the city,” Dr. Sajjad said.
Dr. Seemin Jamali, a senior health practitioner and former executive director of the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center (JPMC), said she doubted the festival’s organizers would be able to implement health guidelines adequately. 
“We have seen that the authorities have failed to implement SOPs, except during complete lockdown,” she told Arab News. “People don’t listen and I fear they will become the source of spread of the virus.”
She added: 
“Holding such a huge event when the positivity rate has crossed 15 percent and is expected to further rise is a very wrong decision.”