Filenews 2 April 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Since last Monday, scientists have been working to re-evaluate the protocols now in place in churches, with the aim of bringing the faithful to the holy temples as safely as possible on Holy Week. Moreover, the intention of the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee to return the faithful to the Churches during the Easter period is also recorded as a footnote in the written recommendation they submitted to the Minister of Health at the beginning of the week in view of the decisions that the Council of Ministers would take on the relaxes that came into force from yesterday morning.
In particular, and as reported by the 'F', some of the members of the EES, at last Sunday's meeting, had expressed the view that the number of believers should increase during Holy Week and adapt to the size of each Temple, on the basis of always strict protocols. In fact, specific suggestions have been made, such as keeping distances even between the chanters, who do not wear masks, or even changing the layout of the seats in which the believers sit, in order to increase the distances between the bystanders. At the same time, a proposal was made for consultation with the Holy Archdiocese, for updating the protocols and even tightening them, if this is what the epidemiological data require at the end of April, which is why the matter was referred to the next meeting of the EES, which will take place around mid-April.
At present, as we are informed, a group of members of the Scientific Committee is tasked with studying the existing protocols and proceeding with any changes deemed necessary. Health Minister Konstantinos Ioannou has been informed of this, which since Wednesday, following the Meeting of the Council of Ministers, had also submitted a request to the EES, in view of the new decisions that the Government is expected to take in the penultimate week of April, which reveals to some extent the Government's intentions for Easter.
