Сhief sanitary officer of Lviv region demands to stop services in churches

Roman Pavlov, head of the Lviv Laboratory Centre of Ukraine’s Health Ministry, demands to stop services in churches due to the threat of the spread of COVID-19. Photo: velychlviv.com

On July 31, 2020, the director of the Lviv Laboratory Centre of Ukraine’s Ministry of Health Roman Pavlov prepared the Submission to Ivan Sobko, head of emergency response, deputy head of the LRSA, regarding the spread of COVID-19, in which he stated the need to stop performing services in the temples of the region. This was reported by the Internet resource "Vysokyi Zamok".

In the document, Pavlov said that the reason for people being infected with the coronavirus may be their stay in churches during services and individual cases of infection of priests.

“Non-observance of social distance between people during services, non-observance of the mask regime, the simultaneous presence in churches (closed rooms) of a large number of people, among whom there may be persons with an asymptomatic course of the disease, priests ill with COVID-19 – all this can cause the transmission of the pathogen during the services and its further distribution among contact persons," said the Chief Health Officer of the Lviv region.

To avoid the spread of coronavirus, Pavlov recommended holding services in the open air, and keeping a distance of at least one and a half meters between worshippers.

The Chief Sanitary Doctor suggested taking communion with disposable spoons, which must be disinfected.

Earlier, the UOJ said that the Ministry of Health blames the Church and transport for the worsening situation with COVID-19.

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