The Islamic Community of Macedonia (IVZ) announced that it is definitely going to open the mosques on Tuesday. With two weeks of the month of Ramadan remaining, IVZ said that will reopen the places of worship to allow the Muslims to attend the religious rites.

The state is obliged to prepare a set of measures and the religious communities need to follow them. Maybe we needed to have better coordination between the religious communities and the Government, but the reality is what it is, the decision has been made, and we need to adapt to the situation and see if we can protect public health, said Deputy Prime Minister Bujar Osmani.

Osmani was strongly critical of the procession held in Struga last week, when Orthodox Christians celebrated St. George’s day, calling for accountability from the organizers.

The Islamic Community said that it will require all who attend prayers to wear masks, that the mosques will be cleaned up regularly, and that as much of the sermons as possible will be held outdoors.