Egyptian churches announced on Friday that they were suspending some of their activities over fears related to the fourth coronavirus wave in the country.
Bishop of the Holy Diocese of Matareya, Ain Shams and Zeitoun in east Cairo announced the suspension of mass services and ecclesiastical education schools. He added that funeral halls will also be closed as part of a series of new preventive measures to stop the spread of the pandemic.
In a statement issued Friday, he said the activities will be suspended from September 3 to 17.
The St. Mark church in Shoubra announced it would suspend its ecclesiastical education classes, in addition to all meetings and scout activities following an increase in the daily COVID-19 cases.
Each church will decide which precautionary measures to take to protect its priests and worshipers.
The Health and Population Ministry said 303 new coronavirus cases were detected in the last 24 hours, upping the total number to 289,035.
In a statement, Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said 12 patients have died from the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the toll to 16,755.
Adviser to Egyptian President for health and preventive affairs Mohamed Taj el-Din stated Friday that nearly 8 million people have received the coronavirus vaccine.
Mohamed Al-Nadi, a member of the scientific committee to combat coronavirus, said the country has not detected the new Mu variant of the virus.
