COVID-19: Mosques to reopen in Bahrain from tomorrow

Cairo: Bahrain has announced the gradual reopening of mosques after several delays due to an outbreak of the coronavirus.

The country’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs said that mosques will gradually reopen for group prayers and religious gatherings in line with the necessary precautionary measures, Bahrain’s news agency BNA reported.

The council added that recommendations made by medical agencies will be followed to contain the spread of the virus.

Coordination will be conducted between the Ministry of Justice, Awqaf, and Islamic Affairs as well as the Sunni and Jaafari endowments departments to set measures necessary for reopening mosques in compliance with the precautions determined by the National Task Team on confronting COVID-19.

According to the plan, the congregation Fajr (dawn) prayers only will be allowed initially in the kingdom’s mosques starting from Friday, the Ministry of Justice and Awqaf said, according to Akhbar Al Khaleej newspaper.

The ministry warned that it will re-close mosques that do not comply with health precautions.

The Gulf country had previously postponed for several times the reopening of mosques, which was originally scheduled for June 5, due to a spike in virus cases.

Bahrain so far has reported a tally of 50,393 coronavirus infections and 186 fatalities.