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The Office of the Ashanti Regional Chief Imam, has praised Ghanaian Muslims for their obedience to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) preventive protocols as they marked this year’s Eid-ul-Fitr.

For the first time since Ghana’s independence, the solemn occasion observed to signify the end of Ramadan (30-day fast), was celebrated without the associated mass prayer by the faithful at their respective mosques.

This was necessitated by the ban on social gathering, following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which as at Monday, May 25, this year, had claimed 32 lives out of the 6,808 confirmed cases in the country.

Sheikh Bun Bida, Public Relations Officer of the Eid Planning Committee, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi, said the Office of the Regional Chief Imam was impressed with the high sense of discipline demonstrated by Muslims.

“We are in distressed times, therefore, it is the responsibility of the faithful to always be law-abiding,” he stated, and entreated Muslims to continue to put into practice those preventive protocols to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

They are mandated to wash their hands regularly under running water, wear nose masks and observe social distancing as much as possible.

Meanwhile, beggars at the Kumasi Central Mosque were hit hard by the absence of large congregation on Sunday, May 24, as the facility remained closed in compliance with the existing COVID-19 preventive protocols.

Most of them, whose livelihood depended on gratuity, were left disappointed as they had to go home empty-handed, a sharp contrast of the the goodies they have been enjoying from the public during the Eid-ul-Fitr.