ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Mosques across the Kurdistan Region reopened their doors to worshippers on Saturday, but under personal coronavirus protection measures ordered by its health and interior ministries. 

People poured into Haji Nuraldin Shahab mosque, downtown Erbil to perform group prayers for the first time in over a month. 

"I am calling on people to abide by the health ministry's coronavirus instructions so that mosques are not shut once again," worshipper Ayub Karim told Rudaw. 

The interior ministry has ordered that mosques will continue to be closed on Fridays, Islam's holy day of the week, when congregational prayers are at their busiest. This coming Friday would likely have be exceptionally busy if mosques were to be open, as it coincides with the first day of Eid al-Adha. Mosques will also be closed for the entire four-day Eid period. 

The wearing of masks and maintenance of social distance inside mosques is on paramount importance, said Faraidun Ghareeb, head of Sulaimani's endowment office. 

"As prayer is compulsory, so too is the wearing of masks," Ghareeb said. "During group prayers, social distancing must be maintained."

The reopening of mosques comes despite little relent in the outbreak for the Kurdistan Region, which has so far seen over 12,000 coronavirus cases - including 464 deaths, according to government figures last updated on Friday evening.

Mosques and other sites of public assembly have been a point of focus for counter-coronavirus measures since early March, when the Kurdistan Region recorded its first cases of the virus. Places of worship were shut, and only began reopening early in May, when the government began relaxing its restrictions. The government once again closed mosques to worshippers in mid-June, as part of measures to curb the growing number of infections. 

There are 5,667 mosques across the Kurdistan Region. Friday prayers take place in over 3,000 of these mosques, according to data from the KRG religious ministry.