SACC meet over coronavirus concerns

There is concern over the possible impact the upcoming Easter weekend gatherings could have on the spread of Covid-19 in South Africa.

Reverend Mzwandile Molo says churches are deemed high-risk areas.

“The churches have to find new creative ways of learning how to be a church and live within the regulations that the president has announced.

“We have to find ways of worshipping without risking lives and ensuring that Easter services are not a place for contamination or getting the diseases to spread,” says Molo.

Molo says the council is especially concerned about the impact the virus could have on poor communities.

“Our concern as churches is more about what will happen when it spreads to poor communities in the townships and rural areas, where water and sanitation remain a big problem.

“In these communities, a cough and a fever are common because of the fragility of life, and it may be late by the time people come to realise that they have the effects of coronavirus,” says Molo.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that gatherings of more than 100 people are now prohibited as part of a raft of measures to curb the outbreak.

Molo says the council would engage faith-based organisations to make decisions that are best for all South Africans.

“The meeting will become a place where we will communicate through the religious community’s position and hopefully in engagement with one another, we can emerge with a clear message and the decision that is best for all South Africans.”