Australian city allows Muslim call to prayer in mosques

MELBOURNE (AA): The Islamic call to prayer will ring out from two mosques in Melbourne, Australia, throughout Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

The municipalities of Hume and Dandenong, both home to large Turkish communities, have allowed the call to prayer, or adhan, to be broadcast for the evening and Friday prayers.

The move is a gesture of support for Muslims who are observing Ramadan during the coronavirus pandemic.

Official figures place the number of Muslims in Australia at about 604,000 and over 200 mosques are believed to have been closed down temporarily due to measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Australia has 6,765 coronavirus cases so far, including 93 deaths and 5,747 recoveries, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.

More than 3.27 million people in 187 countries and regions have been infected since the virus emerged in China last December, with the US and Europe the hardest-hit areas in the world.

A significant number of COVID-19 patients – over 1.02 million – have recovered, but the disease has also claimed nearly 234,000 lives so far, as per the Johns Hopkins data.