Chinhoyi, 18 August, 2021 / 8:17 pm (ACI Africa).
Those to participate in public worship will have received COVID-19 vaccination, the Bishop of Zimbabwe’s Chinhoyi Diocese has announced amid the easing of coronavirus restrictions in the Southern African nation.
In a move that follows the August 11 Zimbabwean government directive that only fully-vaccinated people attend public worship, Bishop Raymond Tapiwa Mupandasekwa underscores the need to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We have received an invitation from the Government of Zimbabwe to reopen our Churches and begin to gather again for Church services yet on condition that the attendants be fully vaccinated,” Bishop Mupandasekwa says in a statement issued Tuesday, August 17.
The Zimbabwean Bishop adds, “Only fully vaccinated priests will be allowed to celebrate (Holy) Mass with congregants.”
On August 9, President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended the six-week lockdown by another two weeks, saying that despite a decline in cases, deaths remain high.