Nouakchott, May 15, 2020 – Mauritania has said that it will reinstate restrictions on mosque prayers, after a recent of spike of coronavirus cases in the semi-desert West African state. The government had eased restrictions on such prayers only last week, prompting the faithful to flock back to mosques, after appearing to have the number of infections under control.
But authorities in the conservative Muslim nation of some four million people recorded a jump in infections this week, bringing the country’s total number of coronavirus cases to 26. Late on Thursday night, Mauritania’s Islamic Affairs Minister Dah Ould Amar Taleb said on national television that the government was reimposing restrictions. “We have consulted the ulemas and health specialists, we are obliged to suspend the Friday prayer until further notice,” he said.
