Paris – The main body representing Islamic religious organisations in France has called on mosques to cancel Friday prayers across the country from next week.
The French Council for the Muslim Religion had already called for the weekly prayers, which are supposed to be held communally, to be cancelled in mosques catering for more than 1,000 worshippers.
Worshippers, who were still attending mosques, should carry out ritual ablutions before prayers at home and not in the mosques as the virus was thought to survive longer on damp surfaces, the council said.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Catholic diocese of Paris said it was holding discussions on how to react to the latest government recommendations and expected to announce a decision later on Friday.
(dpa/NAN)
