Capacity of Churches Limited Further, All Public Gatherings Prohibited

Bratislava, December 17 (TASR) – Slovakia’s Public Health Authority has set stricter limits for the capacity of churches as of Saturday, with people attending religious services to be allowed to sit only in every other pew, while there will have to be a vacant seat between neighbouring persons, the authority’s spokesperson Dasa Rackova told TASR on Thursday.

Only sitting people will be able to attend religious services, while the Public Health Authority said that communion in the hand should be “strictly observed”. In addition, the distribution of communion will be restricted only to the species of bread.

At the same time all public gatherings will be forbidden as of Saturday, regardless of the number of participants. This means that no theatre performances, film screenings and music events will be allowed. Other exemptions (events held in line with the relevant law and events with participants possessing negative results of tests for coronavirus) will remain in place.
Individual regional public health offices will be able to impose even stricter measures, if necessary, added Rackova.