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| - Georgian health officials on Friday urged churchgoers to stay at home as the country's influential Orthodox Church dismisses a general quarantine to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Georgia has imposed a general lockdown, a nighttime curfew, and banned gatherings of more than three people as part of efforts to contain COVID-19. Yet the Orthodox Church has not discouraged believers from attending liturgies and refuses to use disposable spoons -- rather than a shared one -- during communions. Leading health officials said Easter celebrations on April 19 which usually attract huge crowds of believers could be rocket fuel for 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 of the government's coronavirus task force. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said earlier this week they will not be attending Easter celebrations, breaking a longstanding tradition. Church leaders have defended holding services, saying the risk of contamination is low because parishioners physically distance from each other during services. With a population of 3.7 million, Georgia has the lowest coronavirus rate in Europe excluding five micro-states like Vatican City and Monaco. The ex-Soviet country on the Black Sea has reported 230 cases and three deaths, according to official statistics. im/jbr/pma
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