Saudi Arabia mosque prayer
File picture: Muslims pray at a mosque in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 31, 2020. For illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: Reuters

Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs closed Wednesday 25 more mosques in eight regions, after detecting COVID-19 infections among worshippers, local media reported.

In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia has closed 725 mosques, of which 677 were later reopened following sterilisation.

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 1,028 new coronavirus infections and 12 deaths, bringing the total cases to 408,038 and the virus-related fatalities to 6,858.

The ministry also reported 824 recoveries over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of people free from the deadly virus to 391,362.

The Riyadh region recorded the highest number of new cases with 431 followed by the Makkah region with 220 and the Eastern region with 157 infections.

The remaining cases were detected in other regions of the Kingdom with just one of them reporting less than 10 infections.

According to the ministry, there were 9,818 active cases and 1,145 of them were in critical condition.