Protocols for funeral rites and prayer (Al Janazah)
Prevention Measures and Safe Environment
- Cemetery workers must wear masks at all times
- Attendees must wear masks at all times.
- Cemetery doors must be disinfected before and after the deceased is buried
- Any equipment used for burial and excavation should be disinfected before and after the deceased is buried
- Individuals responsible for the excavation process, carrying the funeral, and those responsible for the burial should wash hands with soap and water for at least 40 seconds.
- In the absence of soap and water, hands should be periodically disinfected for a period of no less than 20 seconds with an approved disinfectant containing at least 60-80% alcohol.
Social Distancing
- Number of attendees to the funeral must be reduced to 50 people only
- Crowding should be prevented at the burial of the deceased.
- The number of individuals responsible for digging the grave should be reduced to two, preferably from the cemetery workers, if any.
- The number of those responsible for the funeral carrying and burial process should be reduced to the lowest possible number and the crowding at the grave should be prevented for those not responsible for the burial process. Thus, 4 to 8 people should nr assigned to the funeral procession and must be from one family and only 2 to 4 people should be allocate for the process of placing the deceased in the grave and the burial process.
- Excavation and burial equipment should not be shared between the individuals responsible for the excavation and burial.
- The social distance between attendance must be maintained for a distance of no less than 1.5 meters
- Prohibit having the funeral prayers on the deceased in the mosque and restrict it to be in the cemetery.
- A distance of at least 1.5 meters should be made between each worshiper and the other during the funeral prayer.
- In the event that there is not enough space for prayer in the cemetery, the prayer should be performed several times to ensure the separation between individuals and prevent crowding.
- Hand shaking and touching relatives of the deceased must be prevented when offering condolences.
- It is preferable to prevent children under 15 years old, the elderly and those suffering from chronic diseases (as per the appendix) from attending the funeral and burial of the funeral.
- If there is more than one funeral, burial times must be distributed to ensure no crowding, allocate a specific time for each funeral, and prevent burial of the two funerals at one time.
Symptoms Monitoring
- Workers in the cemetery and the funeral attendees must disclose when they are experiencing any respiratory symptoms or high temperature and should avoid attending the funeral.
Awareness and Education
- Awareness posters must be displayed in the cemetery entrance and must include the following:
- Introduction to the disease, how it spreads and the preventative measures to be taken.
- Awareness of handwashing, avoiding touching the eyes, nose and mouth before washing hands, and encourage attention to personal hygiene and health care
- Awareness of the necessity and method of wearing safety and protection equipment such as masks and gloves and the correct way to disclose of them.
- Adherence to Hygiene and Cough etiquette (by using tissues and throwing them away immediately or coughing into the elbow and washing hands afterwards).
- Relatives of the deceased must be made aware of the procedures that will be followed, including restricting attendance to 50 people only, and the necessity of identifying them before the funeral.
- Relatives of the deceased must aware their community not to attend the funeral and that attendance is limited to only 50 relatives of the deceased by sending text messages or through communication applications.
Implementation
- It is preferable for supervisors from the municipality to attend funerals to ensure that the health conditions in the cemeteries are not violated.
- It is preferable to have security personnel to prevent crowding and prevent the number of people from exceeding 50.
- If there are workers in the cemetery, it is preferable that they supervise the process of organizing prayer and prevent the entry of large numbers to the cemeteries.