Iranian pilgrims taunt coronavirus with ‘communal licking’ of religious shrines despite outbreak

Iranian pilgrims taunt coronavirus with ‘communal licking’ of religious shrines despite outbreak

Pilgrims to religious shrines in Iran have reportedly attempted to defy fears about the novel coronavirus by licking religious shrines to prove that they will not get sick. 

A video posted to twitter shows three people, including one who appears to be a child, licking the glass coverings and metal grilles at religious shrines in Qom and Mashhad. 

Qom, which is a prominent centre of religious pilgrimage for Shia Muslims, is also the epicentre of the virus in Iran. 

"Stop playing with people’s beliefs, coronavirus is nothing in the Shia shrines,” one man is recorded saying at the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom, in response to calls for authorities to close pilgrimage sites amid the outbreak. 

"Im licking this and I don't care what happens," another man is shown saying, before licking a metal grille housing a prominent grave site. 

The man's actions prompted those around him to recite prayers loudly.