Madagascar: Christians were able to celebrate Easter despite the second wave of Covid-19
In Madagascar, places of worship remained open for Easter celebrations but the number of worshipers was restricted to 100 per service.
The day before, the President of the Republic, Andry Rajoelina, had declared a state of health emergency in view of the sharp increase in Covid-19 contaminations.
© Laetitia Bezain / RFI
Text by: Laetitia Bezain Follow
3 min
While Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina on Saturday declared a state of health emergency throughout the territory, the doors of places of worship remained open on Easter Sunday.
With a tonnage, however, limited to 100 people, a condition set by the Head of State.
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From our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Inside the reformed church in the district of Mahamasina, in the center of the capital, a few dozen Tananarivians attend the worship service in masks.
Bottles of hydroalcoholic gel and adhesive tape to enforce distancing were installed on the benches.
Fenohery Randriamanampisoa is the treasurer of the parish.
“
The faith of the Church is based on Jesus Christ who is already alive.
So we as Christians have the faith that we are not "in fear" of anything related to the coronavirus.
But of course, we respect barrier gestures as humans and that's what we try to convey to the faithful.
For vulnerable people, old or sick, we try to tell them to stay at home.
So everything that is homily or the whole worship, we share them on social networks.
"
The celebration had gone without worshipers last year because of the first wave of Covid-19.
Nirina, 30, did not want to miss it this year.
And this while the Big Island undergoes a second wave stronger and more deadly than the first, with 117 deaths in the last 20 days, for a total of 25,572 cases including 454 deaths.
“
Every year, we receive God's message at church for Easter, but that year it wasn't as usual and we're making up for it this year,”
says Nirina.
We take advantage of it when we have the opportunity to come to church.
We do not fear the virus here with this organization.
But in everyday life, we are still afraid, because the virus is everywhere now.
"
As in other places of worship in Antananarivo, services in this church have increased and started early in the morning to allow around 900 of the 3,000 faithful to attend Easter celebrations.
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Madagascar
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