Countries with Muslim populations wrestle with best way to observe holy month amid outcry over US president’s latest suggestion

This article is more than 4 months old

This article is more than 4 months old

The governments of nations with large Muslim populations were divided on coronavirus restrictions as Ramadan began, with with some easing lockdowns while others enacted travel bans.

As the Muslim holy month was set to begin, US health experts rushed to warn against Donald Trump’s suggestion of exploring the use of UV light on people and injecting disinfectant as a way of combatting coronavirus.

The world’s 1.8 billion Muslims have had to adjust to a month-long holy period of fasting and reflection with a much more private tone this year, with mosques closed and feasts after dusk held in private.

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Some countries have amended curfews to make it easier for people to shop for food. Egypt will allow more businesses to reopen and will shorten a night-time curfew, and shopping malls and businesses will be allowed to open on weekends until 5pm.

The announcement by prime minister Mostafa Madbouly came as the country confirmed its highest number of infections in a single day, with 232 new cases reported on Thursday. Another 11 people died, bringing the country’s death toll to 287.

Madbouly said the easing of restrictions would be reviewed in two weeks.

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Algeria and the United Arab Emirates also announced they would ease curfews for Ramadan.

However, in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, all non-essential travel between provinces has been banned in order to contain the virus during the holiday. The ban included domestic and international travel, with some exceptions, and police will use roadblocks to enforce the measure on the ground.

In the US, Trump stunned onlookers at a press briefing on Thursday when he riffed on his “interest” in looking at using ultraviolet lights or even injecting disinfectant into people to treat Covid-19.

Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and a former labor secretary, said Trump’s briefings were “actively endangering the public’s health”.

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“Boycott the propaganda. Listen to the experts. And please don’t drink disinfectant,” he said.

At the briefing Trump, remarked on research by the Department of Homeland Security that said the virus appeared to weaken faster under exposure to sunlight, heat and humidity.

William Bryan, its acting undersecretary for science and technology, told the briefing tests using disinfectants had showed the virus could be killed within minutes by some substances.

Dr Irwin Redlener, the director of the Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told the MSNBC network: “Everything that this scientist talked about from homeland security was basically incoherent, nonsensical, not really supported by evidence and really quite contrary to a lot of things that we do know about some of the things he was saying.”

Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, was barely able to contain incredulous laughter when asked if anyone should follow the US president’s latest suggestion.

“Um ... I would not ... I would caution against the injection of disinfection! They could be quite toxic to people …And ultraviolet light, look, I don’t know the context in which he said it, so I really would need to study it before I could comment.”

Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy struggles to hide a few giggles as he's asked about President Trump's comments on injecting disinfectant and sunlight as treatments for coronavirus.



Says it all, really @abcnews @politicsabc #auspol pic.twitter.com/mMpvegrusH

The US has reported almost 50,000 deaths and 870,000 cases, according to the John Hopkins University tracker, and could extend social distancing measures. Congress passed a $500bn relief package late on Thursday, bringing the US’s crisis spending to nearly $3tn.

Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to the UK strongly rebuked the US for suggesting Beijing was not truthful about the coronavirus, saying Washington should not seek to bully China in a manner reminiscent of the 19th century European colonial wars.

“Some other country – their local courts sued China – it is absurd,” Liu Xiaoming said, a possible reference to legal action launched by Missouri. “Some politicians, some people, want to play at being the world’s policeman – this is not the era of gunboat diplomacy, this is not the era when China was a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society.”

In other global developments: