Iran cancels Friday prayers amid coronavirus outbreak

APD NEWS

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Iran cancelled Friday prayers in major cities across the country amid novel coronavirus outbreak, official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

"The Friday prayers in the capital cities of all provinces (including Tehran) have been cancelled this week," Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, chief of Friday prayers' headquarters, was quoted as saying.

Iran had cancelled Tehran's Friday prayers ceremony last week over concerns of the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Friday prayers is a weekly religious event held in the Iranian cities, whereby Iran's major cultural, social and political issues are addressed by senior clerics.

The novel coronavirus has so far infected 2,922 people across Iran, 92 of whom have died.