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| - Montenegro's capital Podgorica is to go under a curfew Monday as officials try to stem a coronavirus outbreak a week after huge crowds attended the funeral of a top bishop. Residents of Podgorica, as well as the central city of Cetinje, will be forbidden from visiting other households at any time of day, or leaving their homes between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am, according to new rules. Restaurants and bars will also be shut except for hotels and takeaway services. The tightened measures come after virus cases skyrocketed in the small Adriatic nation in recent weeks, putting the rate of infection per 100,000 people among the highest in Europe. Of 23,000 cases and 337 deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic in March, more than 5,300 new infections were logged in the last two weeks, a development the World Health Organization described as 'alarming'. The record numbers "along with extremely high virus transmission in local communities threaten to overload the health system", the Montenegrin Institute of Public health warned in a statement. Fears of an even more explosive caseload have mounted since a huge turnout on November 1 for the funeral of late bishop Amfilohije, leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro. He died in late October at age 82 after a battle with Covid-19. Despite warnings from public health officials, thousands gathered close together to view and in some cases kiss the bishop's body, which was laid out in an open casket for days before his burial. After the funeral, the government-appointed National Coordination Body for Infectious Diseases (NKT) condemned a "drastic violation" of epidemiological measures by church clergy, politicians and doctors who attended the ceremony. "By their personal example of disobeying imposed measures and encouraging a mass attendance, they showed an incomprehensible irresponsibility for the health and lives of citizens", the state's Covid-19 task force said. "The consequences of such actions in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic will certainly further aggravate the epidemiological situation", it added. The leader of the Belgrade-based Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej, who led the funeral service later tested positive for coronavirus, as did another top cleric in Montenegro. mbs/ssm/wai
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