Tehran cancels Friday prayer amid coronavirus outbreak

TEHRAN: Iran’s Health Ministry asked the authorities of Iranian on Thursday to cancel the Friday prayers and any other congregations due to fears of novel coronavirus.

According to the details, The Iranian IRNA news agency quoted the Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour saying that all forms of congregations must be canceled till further notice.

Irans’s supreme leader Hassan Rouhani orders in his tweet to avoid the gatherings.

از همه هموطنان می‌خواهم با همدلی، مراقبت و تبعیت از توصیه‌های بهداشتی برای پیشگیری از شیوع بیشتر ویروس #کرونا، از مسافرت، گردهمایی و ترددهای غیرضرور، خودداری نمایند.

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همه دستگاه‌های اجرایی، نهادها و مسئولین اماکن مذهبی، موظف به اجرای تصمیمات ستاد ملی مدیریت کرونا هستند.

— حسن روحانی (@Rouhani_ir) February 27, 2020

On Tuesday,Deputy health minister of Iran confirmed that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic of Iran.

Iraj Harirchi coughed occasionally and appeared to be sweating during a press conference in Tehran on Monday with government spokesman Ali Rabiei.

At the time he denied a lawmaker’s claim that 50 people had died from the virus in the Shiite shrine city of Qom, saying he would resign if the number proved to be true.

Coronavirus hits Iran: report

Earlier on February 19, Iran’s Health Ministry confirmed the first two cases of coronavirus in the country on Wednesday, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the two cases were confirmed in Qom city, south of Tehran.

According to the sources of Anadolu Agency, A number of suspected cases were also quarantined in the same city in the past two days, he said. He, however, did not reveal the nationalities of the confirmed cases.