COVID-19: Saudi Arabia closes 10 more mosques
Of the 135 mosques closed so far, 108 have later been opened following sterilisation
Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs announced yesterday the temporary closure of 10 more mosques in six regions after detecting COVID-19 cases among worshipers, local media reported.
The closed mosques are in Jizan, Riyadh, Mecca, Asir, Medina, and the Eastern province.
Three of the mosques were later opened after completing sterilisation procedures - two in Riyadh and one in the Eastern province.
In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia has closed 135 mosques, of which 108 were later opened following sterilization.
The move comes as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health on Wednesday recorded 353 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, breaching the 350-mark for the first in 12 days.
On February 12, the Kingdom registered 353 new infections; after that the single-day number remained between 300 and 350.
The ministry announced 5 more deaths over the past 24 hours from complications caused by COVID-19.
This brings the total number of confirmed infections in the Kingdom to 376,021 and virus-related fatalities to 6,475.
The ministry also reported 280 recoveries over the past 24 hours, taking the total number of people free from the deadly virus reached 367,015.
Riyadh continued to record the highest number of infections with 186 cases, followed by the Eastern region with 67 and Mecca with 43 new infections.
The remaining cases were detected in other regions of the Kingdom, with eight of them reporting less than 10 infections.
With the slight increase in the number of new cases, the active cases in Saudi Arabia rose to 2,531 out of which 483 were critical.