ALOR SETAR, Jan 20 — Only 50 worshippers, apart from mosque and surau officials and committee members, are allowed to perform Friday prayers in Kedah during the movement control order (MCO) period.

Kedah Islamic Religious Affairs Department director Mohd Yusri Md Daud said only five mosques or surau committee members were allowed to perform the daily obligatory prayers in a congregation.

‘’The mosque and surau committees are responsible for picking suitable methods to select the worshippers and managing them to ensure the smooth process of Friday and obligatory prayers at mosques or surau,” he said in a statement here today.

He said those with body temperature exceeding 37.5 degrees Celsius, had symptoms like cough, flu and breathing difficulties, aged 12 years and below, not wearing face masks and not having their own prayer mats would not be allowed into the mosque and surau.

He said religious programmes and knowledge events such as ceramah, lectures, religious classes and ‘tazkirah’ (short lecture) before Friday prayers, as well as social and community activities such as feasts and gotong-royong in mosques and surau were not allowed. — Bernama