Vatican to hold no congregation on Easter due to corona outbreak

Vatican City: Vatican on Sunday announced that this year’s week-long Easter liturgical celebrations in the country will be conducted without the usual congregation due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Because of the current global public health emergency, all the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical presence of the faithful,” the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household said in a statement.

The Easter liturgical celebrations are scheduled to start from April 5.

The celebrations are usually attended by thousands of devotees. The prefecture also conveyed that the General Audiences and the Angelus which is presided by the Pope would also be conducted without the participation of the devotees until April 12, these services could be witnessed live on the official Vatican News website.

Popular pilgrim centres of the Vatican City - Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica have already been closed for tourists as a precautionary measure to check the spread of the disease.

According to the latest tally late Saturday, there have been 1,441 deaths in Italy due to COVID-19, and more than 21,000 Italians have tested positive making it one of the hardest-hit European country so far in the pandemic. (UNI)