Ethiopian Orthodox Church announced resuming mass prayer services in all its churches by maintaining physical distances and safety.
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Patriarch H.H. Abune Mathias today indicated that it has been hard for the followers of the faith to isolate themselves from the prayers of the Church. He indicated that decision by the Church is made to commence the services of the Church by seriously maintaining all the safety measures in order to avoid the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
All religious organizations in Ethiopia were forced to suspend their prayer services in churches and mosques with the aim of protecting their followers from coronavirus, the global pandemic, which claims over 297,000 lives infecting some 4.3 million people so far.
About a month ago, the government has reached understanding with all religious organizations operating in Ethiopia on the need to suspend mass prayers in religious places to combat the spread of coronavirus.
In Ethiopia five people have died of coronavirus so far. The total number of infected people in the country has also increased to 272 after nine new cases are reported in the last 24 hours. Out them, 106 have recovered so far.
The Eastern African countries are among the least affected region in the world by COVID-19. Out of the 2,403 total death in Africa by coronavirus, about 200 are in Eastern Africa. As of May 13, 69,578 coronavirus cases are confirmed in Africa with 23,978 recovery.