Singapore mosques will resume Friday prayers and daily congregational prayers on June 26, with a maximum of 50 congregants per session at each mosque, said Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS).

In its website, MUIS said it will continue to adopt a cautious and phased approach to ensure the mosques remain safe, and in full compliance with national guidelines.

MUIS said to enable more congregants to perform the Friday prayers, two half-hour prayer sessions will be held every Friday, with an interval of about 30 minutes between the two sessions, to ensure safe crowd management.

Sermons and prayers will be shortened to a maximum of 20 minutes, it said.

Apart from Friday prayers and daily congregational prayers, MUIS said private worship beyond congregational prayer sessions will continue to be available and subject to the same limit of 50 persons at any one time.

MUIS noted that it has developed an online prayer booking system to manage the demand and ensure the orderly conduct of the congregational prayers.

The system allows for reservation of available prayer spaces for daily and Friday congregational prayers, it said.

To enable more worshippers to perform their Friday prayers, the system will limit the number of bookings an individual can make for Friday prayers to only one reservation within a three-week window.

Singapore entered its Phase Two of reopening on June 19 with the easing of restrictions which were imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

-- BERNAMA