Saudi Arabia’s Jouf province reopens 77 additional mosques for Friday prayer

The additional mosques will help observe social distancing among worshipers. (SPA)

• The additional mosques will help decrease the number of people praying at each location
• Last week, hundreds of thousands of worshippers attended the first Friday prayers held at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Al-Jawf will reopen an additional 77 mosques to help maintain social distancing between worshipers, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
This brings the number of reopened mosques in this region to 175.
Head of Islamic Affairs in Al-Jawf, Awad Al-Anzi said the additional mosques will help decrease the number of people praying at each location, in order to observe the Kingdom’s provisions of social distancing at mosques.
Last week, hundreds of thousands of worshippers attended the first Friday prayers held at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah since the gatherings were suspended to stop the spread of coronavirus.
The green light for the resumption of the prayer meetings came as part of a plan to gradually reopen the Kingdom’s mosques while ensuring worshippers and visitors adhered to preventive measures.
A ban on access to the Rawdah remained in place and only 40 percent of the mosque’s capacity were being allowed entry.
Saudi authorities reopened all mosques for prayers – except in Makkah – on May 31, as part of the Kingdom’s plan for a gradual return to normal life.