Following the lifting of restrictions on places of worship, the federal government has issued a safety advisory, which among others, restricted children from churches and Islamiyya schools in mosques, as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 during regular religious services.
The federal government has also asked governors to take charge of the enforcement of the protocols to contain the spread of the virus.
In Lagos and Kaduna states, therefore, the governments have said places of worship would remain closed.
The virus’ tally rose to 10,819 in the country yesterday having infected 241 more persons.
The number of deaths rose from 299 to 314 in the last 24 hours even as 3,239 persons have been discharged.
Announcing this last night, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Lagos State recorded 142 new cases, Oyo 15, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 13, Kano 12, Edo 11, Delta 10, Kaduna and Rivers nine each, Borno eight, Jigawa four, Gombe and Plateau three each, while Osun and Bauchi recorded one each.
In Kaduna, the Special Adviser to the Governor, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, said religious activities would remain on lockdown, adding that the state government had started engagements with business, community and religious leaders to discuss and agree on the protocols for the safe re-opening of businesses, markets and resumption of congregational worship.
The decision in the case of Lagos State would be taken by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who would take into consideration, the rising cases of the pandemic in the state.
The advisory to churches and mosques, which was developed in liaison with the leadership of the religious community and state governments, was reeled out yesterday by the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Control, Dr. Sani Aliyu, during the task force’s media briefing in Abuja.
He, however, insisted that it’s safer for the public to worship at home because religious places are particularly recognised to have the major potential of spreading the virus among worshippers.
He said places of worship that are unable to comply with the measures should not be allowed to operate by governors.
Aliyu said the advisory was issued in the event that members of the public wanted to perform their spiritual needs and it’s impossible to carry it out at home.
Some of the recommended guidelines, which PTF noted are minimum standards that mosques and churches must comply with include, the supply of running water, soaps and alcohol sanitisers at entry and exit points and in all high contact locations, including bathroom. He added that worshippers must sanitise their hands and undergo temperature checks before entry.
The use of face masks is now mandatory in mosques and churches, while all close contacts, including shaking of hands, hugging, kissing, handling out of materials and sharing of worship items, including prayer mats, musical organs, and microphone is strongly discouraged.
”The capacity of the facility should be limited to allow for physical distancing rules to apply. Local authorities should also be advised in terms of areas of hotspot that might require greater restriction. Volunteers should be restricted to a certain number and none of the volunteers should have an underlying condition or be above the age of 55 years,” Aliyu said.
PTF also recommended limiting congregation time for places of worships, only opening for regular church and mosque services.
Under this proposal, churches are to open from 5.00 a.m. and close by 8.00 p.m. automatically ruling out night vigils.
Each church service would be for a maximum of one hour with an interval of 30 minutes in between services to allow time for disinfection.
Mosques may open 15 minutes before Adhan (call to prayer) and close 10 minutes after prayer for fajr, subr and asr. Prayers are to be shortened to reduce contacts between congregants.
”The reason for this, as I said yesterday, is that there are various factors that contribute to you catching COVID-19 when you come across somebody with it. And one of the factors is the duration with that person. The longer you stay with that person, the less protected the person is in terms of face mask – or you yourself. The closer you are to the person, the higher the likelihood of catching COVID-19,” he said.
He added that for Friday Jummat prayers, mosques are to open 20 minutes before prayers and close 20 minutes after prayers. The duration of Friday prayers, including sermons, should not exceed an hour, he said.
Similarly, Aliyu also noted that Islamiyya schools, children’s Sunday schools and children’s activities, as well as night vigils, are to remain suspended, adding that for mosques, only five daily prayers and Friday Jummat service are permitted.
According to him, mass gatherings that make it impossible to enforce physical distancing are not allowed, while it’s advised that prayer sessions should be staggered to accommodate people.
Aliyu also said church worshippers should be encouraged to sign up for preferred service time ,while virtual worship options should be made available.
He also added that if possible places of worship should plan for separate entry and exit point.
In addition, there should be no social gathering before and after services.
He also strongly objected to operation of business outlets within churches and mosques, saying they should remain closed while people with underlying conditions, such as HIV, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and those above 55 years are advised to stay at home and consider remote participation or non-contact attendance.
”When we look at the mortality rate for people who have died from COVID-19 in Nigeria, more than half of those that died were above the age of 50. Secondly, the case fatality rate if you are above the age of 50 is 17 per cent; if you are above the age of 60; it’s 18 per cent – it is almost one in five chances of dying if you catch COVID-19 and you fall within that group.
There should be improved environmental hygiene and clear decontamination processes. For instance, places of worship should ideally be free of carpets to allow easy and regular disinfection of floors and furniture. Windows should be left open during service and preferably use non-enclosed open-air services as much as possible,” he explained.
He reminded worshippers not to attend in person if they are experiencing common symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath or have had close contact with an infected person in the last 14 days.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Government has ruled out immediate reopening of churches and mosques in the state.
Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, said yesterday that Lagos being the epicentre of the pandemic would not reopen worship centres until there is a “clear coast for the state to do so.”
He said this on the sideline of the 2020 Ministerial Press Briefing commemorating the first year in office of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Elegushi said the state was still looking at the possibility of reopening worship centres despite the federal government’s guidelines.
According to him, “Even before the pronouncement by the federal government, we have been having meetings with the religious leaders; we even had one with safety commission, looking at the possibility of reopening of religious houses.
“We also had one with the leaders of the two faiths and I want to tell you categorically that at that meeting, the possibility of reopening religious houses was ruled out totally.
“They claimed that they cannot take such responsibility of ensuring that only 20 or 50 people are praying behind them.
“As an Imam said, he doesn’t know what is going on at the back immediately he is leading a prayer. He said if more than 20 or 50 people are staying at his back, he is not going to take responsibility for their presence.
”So, in the meeting, we ruled out in totality the issue of reopening the religious houses until we have a clear coast for us to do so.
”The federal government mentioned it, but it never ruled out the state in achieving that pronouncement.
“So, all states will have to look at the possibility of doing so in their respective states.
“We all know Lagos is still having more figures. So, definitely, that will speak to our decision.”
THISDAY
