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| - Georgian health officials on Friday urged churchgoers to stay at home as the country's influential Orthodox Church dismissed containment measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Georgia has declared a state of emergency, imposed a lockdown, a nighttime curfew, and a ban on gatherings of more than three people in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19. But the Orthodox Church has not discouraged believers from attending liturgies and refuses to use disposable spoons -- rather than a shared one -- during communions. To the outrage of medical authorities, parishioners continue kissing crosses and icons during church services across the country. Leading health officials said Easter celebrations on April 19, which usually attract huge crowds of believers, could fuel the spread of the coronavirus. "Let's pray at home for each other and for our country," Paata Imnadze, deputy director of Georgia's National Centre for Disease Control, told a news conference. "Mass gatherings, including in churches, expose people to a serious risk of contamination," said virologist Tengiz Tsertsvadze from the government's coronavirus task force. Church leaders have defended holding services, saying the risk of contamination is low because parishioners physically keep distance from each other during services. Church spokesman Andria Jagmaidze told AFP that the final decision on the format of Easter celebrations "is yet to be taken". Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said earlier this week they will not be attending Easter celebrations, breaking a longstanding tradition. But they came under criticism from opposition parties for failing to enforce quarantine requirements due to fear of alienating churchgoers -- a significant segment of the Georgian electorate. "It is primarily the government's responsibility to make sure the law is being enforced equally by all social groups, with no exception for religious groups," former health minister and a leader of opposition European Georgia party, Zurab Chiaberashvili, told AFP. "I fear there will be an unnecessary acceleration of the virus's spread and that there will be new clusters among churchgoers" following Easter celebrations. With a population of 3.7 million, Georgia has the lowest coronavirus rate in Europe, excluding five microstates such as Vatican City and Monaco. The ex-Soviet country on the Black Sea has reported 230 cases and three deaths, according to official statistics. im/ma/jv
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