Social places have engaged high gear to stem the spread of coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Just a day after the government announced the first case of the disease in Kenya, religious institutions in Nairobi have put in place measures to curb possible transmission among faithful.<\/p>\n
Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) and Catholic Church have taken cautionary measures.At the Nairobi Central SDA Church, faithful had to use sanitisers before entering church.<\/p>\n
Joshua Orwa, an elder at the church said strict action had been taken to ensure personal hygiene was not compromised.\u201cWe were advised on what we need to do on the issue of coronavirus and the measures already taken by the government. We had a doctor speak to the congregation on how to keep away infections,\u201d he said.The church also banned handshakes instead recommending waving to contain transmission of Covid-19.<\/p>\n
Few numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Orwa said: \u201cWe have someone at the entrance to ensure every member coming in gets a drop of the sanitiser gel and we shall continue to sensitise our members on how to go about this period.\u201dBut coronavirus has also come at a cost to the church which ordinarily has 2,000 members every Saturday with the official revealing that the number was estimated to have dropped by half.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can attribute the few numbers to the fear that has come with this disease and even the 16 schools where we do outreach have locked out our teams in line with the government directive banning outsiders from schools,\u201d Orwa said.He said after the government confirmed the coronavirus case in the country on Friday, the church sent out SMS alerts on hygiene to members.Ampher Apidi, a member of the church said prayers will also be part of the healing process.The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) issued a raft of guidelines on how church services will be conducted.<\/p>\n From observing hand hygiene among the clergy and congregants to waving at each other the church, to reduce possible physical contact among the faithful. \u00a0\u201cWe strongly exhort the priests to observe the highest level of hygiene in the liturgical ceremonies.<\/p>\n Significantly, we ask them to thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water before any liturgical celebration, and to use soap in the lavabo rite of the Mass to ensure cleanliness as they come in contact with the bread and wine,\u201d read the bishops\u2019 letter.Servers at the altar will also have to follow the strict hygiene code even as the bishops ordered for the removal of holy water from the water fonts instead recommending that faithful carry the water home.<\/p>\n The bishops advised that any person suffering from a cold should voluntarily abstain from Holy Mass celebrations until they recover.\u201cAs we recognise the imminent danger of this pandemic, we however, request that we avoid any tendencies or attitudes of discrimination and stigmatisation of affected persons,\u201d the bishops urged the faithful.<\/p>\n The move by Catholic bishops come a day after PCEA issued guidelines asking\u00a0 churches to invest in hand sanitisers.The letter signed by PCEA Secretary General Rev Peter Kaniah, warned church leaders to spend with caution as the future of coronavirus could be unpredictable.\u201cWe are also advising you to spend sparingly the resources you have for now.<\/p>\n Reason being if this disease becomes pandemic in Kenya, gatherings may be restricted meaning resources will be scarce,\u201d he said.At the Jamia Mosque in Nairobi, prayers went on as usual with the washing ritual before entering the mosque maintained.<\/p>\n On Friday, the government banned social meetings which could provide fertile ground for the spread of the virus. However, there was no communication on places of worship with a wait-and-see attitude on coronavirus.<\/p>\n Some evangelical churches also joined the fray in giving guidelines to the flock. Nairobi Chapel in a statement urged faithful to heed to public health and safety concerns.\u201cWe have provided for adequate sanitisers for all our members within all our worship centres.<\/p>\n We are very intentional about providing a clean and safe environment for our people to gather and worship God,\u201d read the statement by Nairobi Chapel senior pastor Nick Korir.He urged faithful to ensure personal hygiene and minimal physical contact during corporate worship services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social places have engaged high gear to stem the spread of coronavirus. Just a day after the government announced the first case of the disease in Kenya, religious institutions in Nairobi have put in place measures to curb possible transmission among faithful. Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) and Catholic Church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,8],"tags":[2322,939,1539],"class_list":["post-4310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","category-homepage-english","tag-churches","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19"],"yoast_head":"\n