Saudi Arabia to open more than 90,000 mosques from Sunday

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has announced to open over ninety thousand mosques across the Kingdom except mosques in Makkah from Sunday.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance has also issued SoPs for the worshipers in this regard. The decision has been taken after over a 2-month closure of mosques.

Saudi Arabia imposed a nationwide round-the-clock curfew to counter the coronavirus during Eid days as infection cases rose.

From May 23-27, a complete lockdown was imposed across the country. Most areas of the kingdom were put under complete lockdown after the outbreak but the government had eased the curfew between 9 am and 5 pm last month.

Also Read: Saudi Arabia installs sterilisation gates in Makkah, Madinah

Malls and retailers were allowed to reopen, except in major hotspots including Mecca’s holy city — where confirmed cases soared, despite a severe lockdown.

Saudi Arabia halted the year-round pilgrimage “umrah” in March over concerns of the disease spreading in the holiest cities of Islam.

Earlier this month, the General Presidency had installed self-sterilization gates at the Grand Mosque entrances to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

A statement from Harmain’s account on Twitter had said: “The Presidency launched a temporary experiment of the advanced self-sterilization gates at Masjid Al Haram. If the experiment is successful, only thereafter it will be implemented in various parts of Masjid Al Haram.”