Iran: All mosques set to reopen on Tuesday
Iran is all set to reopen all mosques on Tuesday, a further step in the government’s plans to ease lockdown restrictions which aimed to control the spread of the COVID-19 infection, the official IRIB news agency reported.
The latest move comes even though some parts of the country have seen an increase in infections.
The decision has been taken after consultation with the ministry of health, IRIB quoted Mohammad Qomi, the director of the Islamic Development Organization, as saying.
A county in Iran southwestern territory, as reported by an Iranian news agency, had been put under lockdown to contain the spread of the highly contagious infection. It also quoted the governor of Khuzestan province, where the county is located, as saying there had been a sharp rise in new cases across the province.
Prayer gatherings resumed in around 180 Iranian cities last Friday, and towns seen as being at low risk of COVID-19 contagion after a two-month suspension, state media reported.
However, the resumption of Friday prayers is still banned in the capital Tehran and some other major cities – followed the reopening last Monday of 132 mosques in areas consistently free of the virus.
Schools will reopen next week, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, according to the official presidency website.
The country has already lifted a ban on inter-city transportation and malls, with a number of shopping centers resuming activities.
The total number of Iran’s COVID-19 deaths surge by 45 in the past 24 hours to 6,685, Health Ministry reported. The total number of diagnosed cases in the country has reached 109,286.
