Catholic churches given green light

SIMON MUNTEMBA writes THE Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has announced that it will be re-opening its Churches for public worship this coming Sunday, 31 May 2020. In a statement, ZCCB President Bishop George Lungu said the decision to re-open public church services had been arrived at after the due process of consultation on the matter. “The proposed date for the re-opening of churches for public worship is Sunday May 31st, 2020.The decision has been arrived at after the due process of consultation on the matter, “ Bishop Lungu said. The Bishop, however, said the re-opening of the catholic churches will be done after making a thorough assessment of the local situation regarding the trends of the laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 and other related factors. He said it was also important to note that consultations shall be made with the local public health authorities and that necessary measures shall be put in place to ensure compliance with relevant public health regulations that are aimed at protecting and saving lives. Recently, during his national address, President Edgar Lungu said churches, saloons and barbershops would be allowed to operate subject to high compliance levels of COVID-19 prevention measures but the churches were reluctant to re-open its doors to the public. Lusaka Archdiocese Bishop, Alick Banda directed that the Church does not resume public celebrations but wait for further guidance. The Sun