Friday prayers begin today after more than 8 months
Thousands of mosques nationwide are ready to receive worshipers on Friday with a capacity of up to 30% for Friday prayers, ater the suspension that lasted more than eight months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mosques in each emirate will be allowed to open for Friday prayers provided they abide by the COVID-19 precautionary protocols.
The General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments had confirmed the readiness of mosques to receive worshippers across the country and are commited to all precautionary measures.
Dr Hamad Al Sheikh Ahmed Al Shaibani, Director General of the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai, said that it is necessary for everyone to follow the guidelines set by the authorities to curb the spread of the virus.
He also noted that 60 temporary mosques would be also open for Friday prayers, in order to accommodate the worshippers from Dubai’s residents and visitors.
He further called on worshippers to maintain physical distance between them, entry and exit points should be organised and prayer in the outer courtyards of the mosque will be allowed.
The Friday prayers should not be more than 10 minutes.
“Worshippers must wear a mask and bring their praying mat,” Al Shaibani added.
He further added that a person would be present in each mosque to organise the entry of worshipers and alert them about the need to follow preventive and precautionary measures.
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced on Thursday that it has conducted 132,380 additional COVID-19 tests which helped it to detect 1,317 new coronavirus cases.
MOHAP also announced five deaths due to COVID-19 complications.
The ministry also noted that an additional 655 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19.
Un secretary-general antonio gut err es warned on Thursday that the world could be fighting the atershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic for decades to come even if vaccines are quickly approved.
Opening a special UN summit on the virus, being held virtually as a safety precaution, Guterres hailed the quick scientific progress but cautioned that vaccination was not a panacea for the ills affecting the planet.
“Let’s not fool ourselves. A vaccine cannot undo damage that will stretch across years, even decades to come,” Guterres said.
“Extreme poverty is rising; the threat of famine looms. We face the biggest global recession in eight decades.” The UN General Assembly president opened the world body’s first special session on COVID-19 on Thursday, calling it a historic and overdue moment of reckoning to forge a path to end the pandemic that not only ensures people everywhere have access to vaccines but mobilizes financial resources for “an inclusive and resilient recovery.” Volkan Bozkir said the world is looking to the United Nations for leadership and action “to address the greatest challenge our world is facing today.” The World Health Organisation (WHO) does not recommend countries issuing “immunity passports” for those WHO have recovered from COVID-19, but is looking at prospects of deploying e-vaccination certificates like those it is developing with Estonia.
Estonia and the United Nations health agency in October started a pilot project for a digital vaccine certificate - a “smart yellow card” - for eventual use in interoperable healthcare data tracking and to strengthen the Who-backed COVAX initiative to boost vaccinations in developing countries.
The US recorded over 3,100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, obliterating the record set last spring, while the number of Americans hospitalised with the virus has eclipsed 100,000 for the first time and new cases have begun topping 200,000 a day, according to figures released on Thursday.
The three benchmarks altogether showed a country slipping deeper into crisis, with perhaps the worst yet to come, in part because of the delayed effects from Thanksgiving, when millions of Americans disregarded warnings to stay home and celebrate only with members of their household.
India’s daily rise in coronavirus infections stayed below 40,000 for a fourth straight day, as 35,551 new cases took the tally to 9.53 millon, health ministry data showed on Thursday. Deaths in India rose by 526, taking the toll to 138,648, the ministry added.
Authorities issue strict guidelines for worshippers; UAE reports 1,317 new cases, 5 deaths and 655 recoveries; UN chief warns of long road ahead after vaccines; WHO looks at possible ‘e-vaccination certificates’ for travel.