MAKKAH: More than 1,500 mosques in the holy city of Makkah are ready to welcome worshippers on Sunday as a coronavirus curfew is lifted in Saudi Arabia.
Mosques have been thoroughly cleaned and sanitised and measures have been put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Doors and windows will remain open during prayers and prayer spaces have been marked to ensure that worshippers maintain a distance of 2 meters from each other.
Although Saudi Arabia will lift a curfew to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on Sunday at 6 a.m., the Umrah pilgrimage and international flights remain suspended.
Hadiyah, the Hajj and Umrah charitable organization, in partnership with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance, earlier launched an initiative to equip mosques that have no maintenance and operation contracts, as well as preparing to apply precautionary and preventive measures to ensure social distancing between worshippers.
Hadiya’s General Director Mansour Al-Amer said: “The initiative was launched at Al-Salaf Al-Saleh Mosque in Makkah and will cover 250 mosques. We will be implementing several precautionary and preventative measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 to ensure a safe return to worshipers, placing stickers that ensure a safe distance between worshipers, providing prayer rugs for workers, and providing a tool (the safety key) for those in charge of mosques to use it while opening and closing doors and windows, to operate air-conditioners and lights, and to reduce their contact with surfaces.”
