As a result of the devastating health effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, the lockdown has been considered a safety measure in many countries. In Pakistan, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in February 2020. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate people’s risk perception and protective behavior during the lockdown. Twenty-two (22) participants from eight big cities across Pakistan were interviewed. A six-step reflective thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The study focused on risk perception and protective behaviors. Our main analytical goal was to understand how risk perception shapes human behavior in the context of lockdown, pandemic-related information flow, and corresponding meaning-making. The study revealed that people influenced by information and advice campaigns form a perception of risk that has shaped their protective behavior. They used familiar means of coping with distress, including the search for strength through religious belief practices and following the precautions recommended by health professionals through the media.

Evil is a power that may possess a human to commit sins. Evil is all negative, conflicting and opposing to the all positive 'good'. Religious descriptions of evil and good often relate it to the opposing forces led by the Devil and God respectively where human is weak and vulnerable. Arrogance and envy are two satanic traits that occupy human nature to deviate him from the 'good'. Islam describes a variety of evil acts that cause destruction, disobedience, tyranny and hopelessness in human societies. According to Islamic traditions, arrogance and envy are satanic obsessions. The evil eye is one of the evils triggered by envious self of the human under the influence of the Evil (Satan). Humans, under the obsession of this evil, may bring harm to their fellow men, intentionally or unintentionally. Since health and prosperity is valuable for survival, the evil eye can destroy them. Humans can overcome these obsessions only with the blessing of God and invoking their innate righteousness. Humans can protect themselves from the harmful and destructive effects of the evil eye, if they trust in God and seek His refuge. Islam emphasizes the Quran having healing and protective powers, and recommends following the Islamic traditions set by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and advised in Quran to gain protection and cure.

The ‘Child’ is a value-laden concept in rural Punjabi society with foremost pronatal values. The woman is primarily responsible for childbearing. Fertility is valued for the social value of the child that raises the status of the woman as woman-being and a mother. It is believed that the child removes the curse of childlessness and sets a woman from social demotion. Infertility or other related issues that cause congruent child mortality are serious and often perceived as Athra, an “evil sickness” to be cured by religious healing. This ethnographic study investigates perceptions of rural Punjabi women about the socially valued child and the fears attached to Athra. This study was conducted in a village in southern Punjab. The study explores the social value of the child, the status of the mother, the ‘unexplained’ nature of Athra, and its contagious effects.

The Punjabi postpartum tradition is called sawa mahina (‘five weeks’). This study investigates infant health care belief practices in rural Punjab and looks at the social significance of infant care beliefs practiced during sawa mahina. During six months of fieldwork, using participant observation and unstructured interviews as primary research methods, the study explored the prevalent postpartum tradition from a childcare perspective. A Punjabi child holds a social value regarding familial, religious, and emotional values. The five-week traditional postpartum period provides an insight into mother-child attachment, related child care belief practices, and the social construction of infancy. A child’s agency is recognised in the embodied mother-child relationship, and a child is seen in a sympathetic connection with the mother. Establishing an early foundation of ascribed identities is another important part of postpartum belief practices.