The president of Liberia has lifted the government’s March ban on public worship in response to the Coronavirus. President George Weah on Friday, May 8
On Friday 8 May 2020 President George Weah stated Churches, Mosques and temples may hold public worship if they limit attendance to 25 percent of their regular worship hour capacity. Mosques may resume services on 15 May and churches on 17 May. As of last Saturday Liberia reported 226 confirmed coronavirus cases. Out of this number 85 remain active, 21 patients have died and 120 have recovered.
The Most Rev. Jonathan Hart, Bishop of Liberia and Archbishop of West Africa released a statement welcoming the news, but asked Episcopal churches to remain closed due to the lingering threat of infection from the virus. The Lutheran and Baptists churches of Liberia have also postponed reopening, while the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Monrovia Lewis Zeigler asked all pastors to delay the opening of their churches for regular church activities until the end of May 2020.
“This will enable us to monitor the reduction in the cases of the Coronavirus pandemic in the Archdiocese. By early June we shall observe and decide how to go forward with the resumption of our church activities,” he wrote on 13 May 2020.
The New Dawn newspaper of Monrovia reported the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Peter Coleman, believed it would be unwise to resume public worship, telling the senate the risk of disease transmission remained high.
