Egypt has so far registered 285 confirmed coronavirus cases including eight deaths. Many on social media had criticised the government for not cancelling weekly Friday prayers and masses at which worshippers crowd into mosques and churches. The Ministry of Islamic Endowments said it would shut all mosques for two weeks "for the necessity of preserving souls", but will allow them to broadcast prayer calls through loudspeakers. On March 15, Al-Azhar's Council of Senior Scholars said that governments had the right to shut mosques "to protect people from the coronavirus". Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church on Saturday ordered all its churches to shut their doors and suspend masses for two weeks over coronavirus fears, it said in a statement.

Source: bd News24 March 21, 2020 14:15 UTC