Statement following Covid-19 outbreak management review of mosque incident

The work to establish the facts following the reporting of a member of The Jamia Ghosia mosque in Blackburn testing positive for coronavirus are now complete.

The mosque misinterpreted the Government guidance for congregational prayers. They assumed that the prayer element of funerals, that are a congregational prayer, were covered by the broader guidance for daily prayers. They held short funeral prayers on July 13, all the recommended safety precautions for congregational prayers were in place, the agreed limit for people inside a place of worship based on COVID safe and risk assessment guidance was not exceeded, hygiene measures and social distancing were adhered to.

The mosque acted proactively and swiftly. They reported the case, started the contact the congregation with advice. The committee voluntarily closed the mosque for all activity and instigated a deep clean. The mosque management has fully co-operated and have acted responsibly, disclosing the incident and following all the safety advice given in recent Council Covid-19 training.

This is not classed as an outbreak as only one person has tested positive however the possible exposure means everybody who attended the funeral prayers are being advised to isolate for 14 days (until July 27) and register to be tested although it is thought that, because of the social distancing rules that were being followed over three floors, only a handful of people are at risk of infection.

The mosque has re-opened following a visit by the Council’s public protection team to check it was Covid-19 safe.

Dominic Harrison, the Council’s Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, said:

The Council and Public Health England work closely together on outbreak management whenever a case like this arises which it will during the pandemic in many different community settings such as workplaces, places of worship, care homes and schools.

We have praised the mosque for the exemplary way they acted when the incident came to light. We need all of our settings in the borough to act in a similar responsible manner  like this and do testing to help us stop the spread of the virus.