Diourbel, August 26 (APS) – The Grand Magal of Touba, a religious event commemorating the departure into exile of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood, will be organized in strict compliance with preventive measures against the new coronavirus, assured Wednesday Serigne Bassirou Abdou Khadre Mbacké, spokesperson for the supreme guide of the brotherhood.
The 2020 edition of the Magal de Touba scheduled for October will be held in strict compliance with barrier measures to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, said in particular the spokesperson for Serigne Mountakha Mbacké, Caliph General of the Mourides.
He was speaking to journalists after a regional development committee (CRD) devoted to the preparations for the event. The meeting was held at the governance of Diourbel in the presence of the administrative authorities, representatives of the security forces and technical services involved in the organization of the event which usually drains hundreds of thousands of people.
The Caliph is a responsible person. He had already given the example with the wearing of the mask which must be a duty for everyone. Those who cannot put on the mask for one reason or another, must use a scarf, ” said Serigne Bassirou Abdou Khadre Mbacké.
Voices had recently been raised to demand the cancellation of this religious event citing the risk of large-scale spread of the coronavirus disease which has already infected more 13,000 people and killed 275 others although around 8,000 patients have recovered. health since the appearance of the virus in the country on March 2.
The Caliph General does not want the disease to spread further and that is why he keeps urging people to ban behaviors that can spread the disease. Aware that everyone must contribute to the war effort, at the start of the epidemic he had already given a sum of money to the state authorities, ” said his spokesperson.
“ In Touba, since the start of the epidemic, people have continued to act in the direction of respecting the recommendations, in particular physical distancing in mosques. If all this depended only on Serigne Mountakha, all the Senegalese people would be in good health, ” insisted the religious.
He thus announced a massive distribution of masks during the Magal in Touba which the Dahira Moukhadd Matoul khidma will take care of.
The chief physician of the medical region of Diourbel, Dr. Mamadou Dieng, for his part insisted that all measures would be taken to prevent the spread of the disease during the Magal.
For example, he indicated that hydro-alcoholic gel was going to be distributed to pilgrims, while the surroundings of the Great Mosque of Touba will be cleared of shops and other rights-of-way leading to traffic jams.
Doctor Dieng as part of the health coverage of the religious event informed that 150 advanced medical posts were going to be installed in Touba and its surroundings.
FD/AKS/OID
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