IS issues recommendations to prevent COVID-19 spread

The Islamic State (IS) terror organization has issued a series of recommendations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, including avoiding traveling to areas suffering from outbreaks of the disease.

"Healthy people are recommended not to go to territories with the epidemic and the infected people not to leave it," Efe news reported on Monday citing the group as saying in its weekly magazine al-Naba.

The message, which comes as the global coronavirus toll reached 6,506 with 167,903 cases, was inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammad, which are also featured in the infographic published by the magazine.

The recommendation list also advised people to "use means of protection from diseases and avoid ill people".

The IS also asked its followers to cover their mouths and noses while sneezing and yawning, to wash hands before dealing with food and to cover or put away food and water.

The recommendations, however, did not mention the prayers or other rituals at which people gather, and where disease is most likely to spread.

After suffering heavy losses in recent years, the IS still operates in Iraq and Syria, where they declared the so-called caliphate halfway through 2014.

Although they remain active in both countries, as well as other states in the Middle East and Africa, there were no longer any populations under their rule.

Since losing control over these areas and the collapse of the caliphate in Syria a year ago, IS has lost prominence both on the ground and on social media, which it used to use as a weapon of communication.

But the quantity of the IS propaganda has greatly reduced since then.

Although the extremists continue to issue al-Naba magazine weekly, the channels through which they transmit its publications and press releases have been restricted since a cyber raid last November coordinated by Europol on thousands of pages with extremist content. IANS