Eid al-Adha; COVID-19 Task Force Deployed to Enforce Health Protocols

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta provincial administration planned to mobilize the city’s COVID-19 task force to monitor the implementation of Eid al-Adha prayers on Friday, July 31, 2020, and the slaughtering process of sacrificial animals.

“We, the city administration, are coordinating with regional leaders including mayors and regents, as well as the local task force, to ensure that the Eid celebration [complies with the health protocols],” said Catur Laswanto, an assistant of the public welfare unit of Jakarta Secretariat, in a virtual meeting on Eid amid the pandemic in Jakarta, Wednesday, July 29.

Catur reiterated that the task force will ensure that people abide by the predetermined health protocols during mass Eid prayers, such as wearing face masks, maintaining a distance of 1-2 meters, and washing hands as often as possible.

“I think [the mobilization of the task force] is a great idea,” he said.

The Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) Jakarta chairman Makmun Al Ayyubi noted that a total of 3,930 mosques and some 6,000 houses of prayers in the capital were set to hold mass Eid prayers. However, 33 RW (community units) classified as COVID-19 red zones are appealed to perform prayers at home.

“Almost all [mosques] will hold Eid al-Adha prayers under the health protocols,” he said.

Makmun added that people in areas with a high risk of virus transmission must not carry out qurban or slaughtering sacrificial animals, but rather hand it to the slaughterhouses (RPH) or nearby areas classified as green zones.

Read also: Eid al-Adha; MUI Asks Muslims in COVID-19 High-risk Zones to Pray at Home

ANTARA