The inter-faith council has announced a raft of changes to wedding and funeral processions over the rising number of COVID-19 infections in the country.
The number of guests allowed to attend a wedding ceremony has been reduced to 50, while food will only be served to the nuclear family.
Rev. Connie Kivuti, the Vice-Chairperson of the council, said the changes follow due deliberations with the Ministry of Health.
The council maintained that all COVID guidelines on providing hand washing or sanitization stations in the compound, seating at 1.5m social distance, and temperature checks will be in force.
The reverend added that the current Phase on Reopening In-Person Worship will begin on Friday, November 27, 2020.
Phase One guidelines for places of worship remain as follows: time allocated is strictly 90 minutes; age of congregants allowed is 6-65 years; wearing face masks at all times; hand washing before and after worship as well as keeping social distance.
The Council said use of thermal guns for temperature checks is highly encouraged.
For funerals, the number of people allowed by the graveside is 15 while attendants remains 100.
The burial ceremony is also not to exceed 100 minutes and food is prohibited.
”We are asking the religious leaders to cooperate more closely with the national government administrators and security personnel at the local level to strictly enforce guidelines on funerals. We have reached an agreement with the ministry of Interior and local administrators have been informed that they must control the number and conduct of funerals,” said Rev. Kivuti.
The interfaith council cited the National Response Committee update that reported COVID-19 positivity rate fluctuation of between 13-20% in the last one month.
