PHOTOS: Iraq's Shia mark Ashura amid COVID-19
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Thousands of Shia Muslims gathered on Sunday to commemorate Ashura in Iraq's Karbala, with many wearing masks in efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, which continues to infect thousands across the country every day.
Ashura marks one of the most critical events in Shia Islamic tradition across the world, and particularly Iraq, which houses the holiest of the religious sect's shrines. The tenth day of the first Islamic month of Muharram is known as Ashura, the date of the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD in which the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, Hussien, was killed.
The burial site of Hussien is in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, which millions of Shia pilgrims visit annually. This year’s Ashura, however, saw a dramatic fall in the number of visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
To mitigate the risks of transmission during the processions, shrine officials and health authorities applied protective measures such as body temperature screenings and mask distributions. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of large gatherings that it identified as “super transmission events,” urging Iraq to end further outbreaks.
Despite the protective measures taken to reduce the risks, transmission rates are still highly likely amid apparent difficulties maintaining social distancing due to overcrowdedness, with most attendees praying shoulder-to-shoulder.
Iraq has recently been recording between three and four thousand cases daily. Karbala provincial authorities locked down the region to prevent entrance to non-Karbalayis after recording 336 infections on August 21.
Editing by Khrush Najari