A merchant wears a protective face mask, following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, as he waits for goods to be loaded on a dhow bound for Iran along the creek in old Dubai, United Arab Emirates March 2, 2020.
Amid the growing fears over the coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, Islam practices in the region have been disrupted , Saudi Arabian citizens have been banned from taking the Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca, Wednesday and Iran has also canceled Friday Prayers on its major cities.
Last week, Saudi has already placed bans on foreign visitors to the home of the holiest sites in Islam, Mecca, and Medina, and Wednesday's decision places an expansion on the said ban.
On the other hand, authorities have also halted Friday prayers on all Iranian provincial capitals as a response to the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country. Traditionally, Friday prayers are an important event for Iran's clerical rulers. Friday is also considered the main congregational day of prayer in Islam. Other areas like Tehran have already canceled Friday prayers in their region last week.
Iran has previously announced the coronavirus highest death toll outside of mainland China with 92 deaths out of the 2,922 cases confirmed across the Islamic Republic.
Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for Iran's Health Ministry announced the country's latest figure's during a news conference releasing the information that Iran's COVID-19 death toll has surpassed Italy's which has previously the densest number of cases outside China.
As of the moment, there are currently 3,140 cases of the virus across the Middle East region and the cases outside Iran are mostly linked back to the Islamic Republic.
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The dreaded virus that first emerged in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China has sickened even the top leaders of Iran's civilian government and Shiite theocracy. Even when compared to the virus' epicenter China, the way that the virus has affected the government in Iran is on another level.
Health experts worldwide have also been speculating that the Mideastern country might be downplaying the number of cases in its boundaries. However, Jahanpour insisted that they are not under-reporting their cases even stating that the virus has no wings and it cannot fly and the only way to transmit it is through contact with one another.
Meanwhile, Presiden Hassan Rouhani of Iran has acknowledged that the virus has infiltrated nearly all of the country's 31 provinces during a Cabinet meeting last Wednesday.
According to the Huffpost, the meeting's transcript stated that the disease is widespread and it encompasses almost all of the provinces. It was also stated that with the disease becoming global and infecting many countries around the world they are calling to the cabinet and the citizens to work together in tackling the problem as quickly as possible.
Last week, Saudi Arabia has closed off access to the holiest Islamic sites to foreign pilgrims over fears of the coronavirus. This has disrupted travel for thousands of Muslims who were already headed to the kingdom. This has also the potential to affect millions on pilgrims who are also planning to travel to the holy sites as the fasting month of Ramadan and the annual hajj pilgrimage approaches.
COVID-19 has already infected more than 95,000 world wide and the death toll has now risen to more than 3,200.
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