{"id":25251,"date":"2020-05-12T19:52:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T14:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/virus-hit-iran-to-reopen-mosques-for-holy-nights\/"},"modified":"2020-05-12T19:52:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T14:22:15","slug":"virus-hit-iran-to-reopen-mosques-for-holy-nights-pti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=25251","title":{"rendered":"Virus-hit Iran to reopen mosques for holy nights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AFP<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tehran:<\/strong> Virus-hit Iran will reopen its mosques for three nights over the next week so that worshippers can pray during one of the holiest times of year, a minister said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Islamic republic shut its mosques and shrines in March as part of its efforts to contain the Middle East\u2019s deadliest outbreak of the novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reopening was granted for Laylat Al-Qadr \u2014 a high point during the fasting month of Ramadan that marks when the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Health Minister Saeed Namaki sounded a note of caution as he announced that worshippers would be allowed to attend mosques and ceremonies for three of the next five nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest strategic mistake is to think that coronavirus is finished,\u201d he said in remarks broadcast on state television.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt any time, we can go back to bad circumstances\u201d due to \u201cnegligence,\u201d said Namaki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur priority is to hold ceremonies outdoors\u201d such as \u201cin stadiums,\u201d he said, \u201cso that social distancing is properly observed.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Namaki said his ministry agreed in a meeting to help \u201corganize ceremonies from midnight to 2:00 am during the nights of Qadr.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the move came in response to \u201cconcern\u201d expressed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but stressed the supreme leader \u201calways supports all measures\u201d to contain the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All gatherings would need to respect \u201csanitary protocols to the maximum,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he warned: \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t blame the health ministry and say they wanted to open mosques but didn\u2019t care about people\u2019s health.\u201d
His remarks came shortly before Iran announced another 48 deaths from the virus taking its overall toll to 6,733.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said another 1,481 people tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 110,767 since the start of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran has struggled to contain its outbreak of the virus that causes COVID-19 since announcing its first cases in the Shiite holy city of Qom on February 19.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government closed schools, postponed major events and banned inter-city travel but it has eased restrictions gradually since April 11.
It allowed mosques to reopen on May 4 in 132 counties where the virus was deemed to be under control.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday last week worshippers were able to attend the main weekly prayers for the first time in more than<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government warned on Monday of a setback in its efforts to contain the virus.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have regressed in Khuzestan due to (people) not observing health protocols,\u201d Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said, referring to a southwestern province that is now the epicenter of the country\u2019s outbreak.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis can happen to any other province if we are not careful,\u201d he added, noting that tighter measures would be reimposed in other places too if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts inside and outside Iran have cast doubt on the country\u2019s official COVID-19 figures, and say the real toll could be much higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFP Tehran: Virus-hit Iran will reopen its mosques for three nights over the next week so that worshippers can pray during one of the holiest times of year, a minister said Tuesday. The Islamic republic shut its mosques and shrines in March as part of its efforts to contain the Middle East\u2019s deadliest outbreak of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}