Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri on Friday urged the people for adopting the option of collective sacrifice of the animals on Eid-ul-Azha instead of performing individually amid at to contain the spread of coronavirus. Talking to PTV News channel, he said the government has already in consultation with provinces and religious leader for SOPs of cattle markets and congregations of Eid-ul Azha to ward off the COVID-19 in the country. It was important to strictly followed the SOPs both by buyers and traders of animals market and administration have to ensure the people should adopted the SOPs, he said. He said that It was the government plan to set up cattle markets outside city limits in different places to avoid threat of spreading of virus and requesting the people to cooperate with the administration for the same. Minister for Religious also appealed to the masses to celebrate upcoming Eid-ul-Azha with simplicity and not to grow careless and follow government health guidelines to keep coronavirus at bay. He said the cleanliness during Eid-ul Azha is a big challenge for city administrations, The concerned authorities with the cooperation of the public must make an extra effort for clean-up after the sacrifice of the animals to counter the prevailing threat of coronavirus. “Sacrifice of animals on Eid-ul-Azha is a religious obligation and the government will ensure every possible facility in this regard to manage the occasion safely and contain the risk of COVID-19 outbreak”, he assured. He said that all arrangements were made in line with the safety measures and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health. Replying a question regarding Hajj, he said Pakistan welcomed the Saudi government’s decision of allowing Hajj 2020 only to a limited number of pilgrims, saying it was perfectly in line with the principles of Shariah since the world was facing a deadly pandemic and needed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “This is a difficult but wise decision to protect pilgrims from the whole Muslim world from the coronavirus,” Noor Qadri said.