Syrian Ministry of Health quarantines passenger plane coming from Iraq, Ministry of Endowments suspends prayer in mosques

Testing the refugee travelers coming through border crossings to Syria

 

North-Press Agency

 

On Sunday, Syrian government's Ministry of Health announced the transfer of a passenger plane from Iraq to a quarantine center, while the Syrian Ministry of Endowments suspended prayer in mosques.

 

Yesterday on Saturday, Syrian Minister of Health Nizar Yaziji announced the transfer of a passenger plane coming from Iraq to the quarantine center in the remote al-Duwair area in Rif Dimashq governorate. They are 16 Syrian passengers and crew.

 

The Minister stressed the measures taken at the border crossings, sea and land ports and airports to ensure the safety of those coming to Syria, and to transfer suspected cases of coronavirus to quarantine centers.

 

For his part, Director of Health in Rif Dimashq Yassin Naanous, told Syrian media that all 33 people aboard a Cham Wings flight, 16 passengers and 17 crew members all of Syrian nationality, were being quarantined because one of them exhibited a higher temperature than 37°C.

 

Naanous revealed that the results of the tests for the coronavirus will appear on Sunday, and if the results are negative, everyone will be released.

 

In the same context, the Fiqh Scientific Council at the Ministry of Endowments and the Union of Levant Scholars issued a fatwa suspending the Friday prayers, sermons, and congregational prayers in the mosques of Syria temporarily from today, Sunday the 15th of March until the 4th of April.

 

After the meeting ended on Saturday, the Syrian government official news news agency "SANA" stated that that the suspension includes all religious lessons, group meetings in all mosques, wedding halls, and funerals.

 

According to the statement issued by the Fiqh Scientific Council at the Ministry of Endowments, the fatwa comes after the World Health Organization announced that the coronavirus has become a global epidemic and in the interest of the safety of citizens and visitors to mosques.

 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced on Saturday that the elections for members of the People's Assembly will be postponed to next Wednesday, May 20, and this comes along with the precautionary measures that Syria is taking to tackle the coronavirus.

 

On the third of this month, al-Assad specified Decree No. 76 of 2020 to determine Monday, 13/04/2020 as the date for the election of members of the People's Assembly for the third legislative round.