ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday urged the Pakistani public to follow coronavirus safety protocols during the upcoming Eid Al-Adha festival and the Islamic month of Muharram.

On Monday, Pakistan’s daily death toll from coronavirus dropped to 20 from 153 on June 20 – a 87 percent decrease – while daily infections have dropped from over 6,000 to 1,176.

Many Pakistanis ignored social distancing rules during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan in May, leading to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Eid Al-Adha begins on August 1 in Pakistan and Muharram on August 21. Every year Muslims in Pakistan crowd mosques and prayer grounds across the country to offer prayers and sacrifice goats and cows for the Eid Al-Adha holiday, which marks the second major religious festival of Islam.

“The cases may spike again if we fail to take precautions during Eid and Muharram,” Khan said in a televised address. “Use face masks while going to the cattle markets [to buy sacrificial animals] … try to switch to online qurbani [sacrifice ritual].”

“We will be putting lives of our elderly and sick at risk by not following the precautions,” he added.

Khan said his government was planning to open restaurants, marriage halls, and educational institutions after Muharram – the first month of the Islamic calendar – provided infections didn’t spike again.

“We will open the tourism sector and restaurants to revive the economy,” Khan said.

The government of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest and most populous province, announced on Monday that it was imposing a ‘smart lockdown’ in the province, effective from midnight Tuesday till August 5, whereby all retail shops, shopping malls, educational and training institutes, marriage halls, business centers, restaurants, parks, play areas and arcades, beauty spas, cinemas and theaters will remain closed.

The move comes as the province reported zero deaths for the first time in two months, while the daily tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases remained below 500 for a week.

Pakistan has recorded over 274,000 infections of coronavirus and nearly 5,842 deaths.