MUSCAT: After eight months of closure, more than 700 mosques opened in the country on Sunday.

The committee allowed the re-opening of mosques whose capacity is 400 worshippers or more, accounting for 30% of the total. The committee laid emphasis on commitment to precautionary measures as stated in the Awqaf and Religious Affairs Ministry’s “Directory of Covid-19 Guidelines” issued last week.

Zahir Abdullah al-Hosani, Director of Mosques Department at the Awqaf and Religious Affairs Ministry, said that registration is still open for more eligible mosques to be added online through electronic form filling by mosque supervisors.

The Mosques Department turned down a number of applications because the mosques requested to be opened did not meet the requirements of safe congregation, said al-Hosani.