Curfew duration altered in Ramadan, all commercial and services professions to resume operations

Damascus, SANA – The government team in charge of confronting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) altered the curfew duration across the country during the month of Ramadan, making it from 7:30 PM to 6 AM, while maintaining the restriction of movement between city centers and rural areas and between provinces. During the its meeting on Saturday, chaired by Prime Minister Imad Khamis, the team tasked the Foreign, Interior, Health, and Transport Ministries with addressing the matter of Syrian citizens who are stranded abroad and setting criteria for returning them in a manner that complies with safety and health procedures, mainly quarantining arrivals for 14 days without any exceptions. The team also tasked the Education Ministry with setting dates for basic education and high school certificates exams when the conditions permit it. The Higher Education, Education, Information, and Communications & Technology Ministries were tasked with preparing programs for supporting e-learning, in addition to tasking the Local Administration Ministry and governors with organizing transportation among provinces on the coming Monday and Tuesday. The team also approved allowing all commercial and services professions to resume operations according to a schedule that allocates one or two days for each profession to open from 8 AM to 3 PM, which includes barber shops and beauty salons which will open from Sunday to Thursday each week granted that they meet specific conditions and guidelines. The Industry Ministry was also tasked with coordinating with unions to devise a plan for restarting work in industrial and artisanal zones. The team tasked the Interior Ministry with ensuring that safety and health measures in all shops and stores.