Covid-19 lockdown: Same health safety rules like last year for mosques

The government has issued health safety guidelines, similar to last year’s, for Muslims to follow while going to mosques for prayers during the weeklong nationwide lockdown that started Monday.

The strict restrictions on public movement and gathering aim to curb the record-breaking surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths over the past month around the country.

The Religious Affairs Ministry in an order on Monday issued the guidelines, which said that gathering for iftar and sehri will not be allowed inside mosques.

Although this bout of the lockdown will end before the month of Ramadan that begins mid-April, the government is yet to decide whether it will be extended or called off.

Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Monday said they will meet on Thursday to review the lockdown and decide whether it should be extended or not.

The health and safety guidelines that mosques will have to adhere to include:

>> Hand sanitiser or handwashing soap and water must be kept at the gate and ablution performing space of the mosque. Wearing face masks is mandatory for worshippers.

>> Worshippers must perform ablution and the Sunnat prayers at home before going to the mosque.

>> Mosques are not to use carpets on floors. Floors must be cleaned with antiseptic five times a day, following every prayer. Worshippers must bring their own prayer mats.

>> Worshippers must maintain social distance while standing in the same line to say prayers inside the mosque.

>> Children, the elderly, the sick and those engaged in the service of patients must not attend the congregations.

>> General guidelines from the Health Services Division, local administration and law enforcement agencies must be followed to ensure the safety of public health.

>> Mosque management committees must ensure the implementation of these guidelines.

>> Local administration and law enforcement agencies will take legal action against those responsible if the directives are violated.

>> Keeping with the worrying surge in recent times, 7,075 new Covid-19 cases and 52 deaths were recorded between Sunday and Monday morning.

>> This development took the total number of infections to 644,439 and the death toll to 9,318, since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March last year.