Mosques and religious sites are to reopen in Jordan from June 5, the government said on Thursday night as it further eased coronavirus measures.
“We are reviewing amendment plans to lift the nationwide ban on Fridays [prayers] to enable citizens to access mosques on foot, either during specific times or throughout the day,” the Minister of State for Media Affairs, Amjad Al Adaileh, said on Twitter.
Mr Al Adaileh said easing restrictions might lead to a surge of cases unless the public obeyed the official preventive policies.
“We must all take responsibility,” he said.
Mr Al Adaileh said reopening businesses did not mean that the danger had passed, and that the public must “live with the reality of the disease".
Public sector employees were allowed to return to work on Tuesday.
Authorities expected that under a phased plan, 60 per cent of workers would return this week.
“Any business that does not follow the official health guidelines will be shut down immediately,” Mr Al Adaileh said.
Most of the country’s 250,000 civil servants had not been working in their offices since a state of emergency was declared in mid-March.
Fines will be imposed on any organisation not complying with preventive regulations, Mr Al Adaileh said.
The country has 728 confirmed cases of the virus and nine fatalities.
The total number of recoveries stands at 497, health authorities said on Thursday.
The government said at the end of last month that it had contained the outbreak as it began to ease restrictions, with most businesses and industries now open again.
Jordan imposed strict lockdown measures in March, ordering residents to stay at home all day.
Only essential businesses, government agencies and food shops remained open.
Thousands of state employees in medicine, civil defence, Customs, security forces and the army continued working to run essential services.
The country's borders and the international airports also closed.
