GUIDELINES on gatherings at mosques and religious events will be issued soon to stem the spread of Covid-19, which has now been classified as a global pandemic.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said working papers on how religious events should be conducted are being prepared by the Prime Minister’s Department.

“We have had discussions on this. The papers will include guidelines on how people should greet one another, holding festive meals, as well as burials,” he said on social media.

A total of five working papers are being prepared for tabling to the National Fatwa Council, Free Malaysia Today reported the new minister in charge of religious affairs, Zulkifli Mohamad Al Bakri, as saying.

The minister in the prime minister’s department said the papers would be ready in two to three days.

“We will make suggestions on how to perform greetings, wedding festivals and funerals,” he was quoted as saying after prayers at the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin in Putrajaya today.

The guidelines will aim to curb transmission risks while performing ablutions for prayers and when congregating for sermons.

The World Health Organisation yesterday declared Covid-19 a pandemic.

Yesterday, the Malaysian Health Ministry also appealed to 5,000 locals who attended a religious event at the Seri Petaling Mosque between February 27 and March 1 to declare themselves to health authorities, after a Covid-19 case was discovered in a person who attended the gathering. – March 12, 2020.