You are here
RWANDA: Unvaccinated Anglicans Prevented from Entering Churches
By Godfrey Olukya
VOL African correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
January 5, 2022
Unvaccinated Anglicans will not be allowed into churches.
In an effort to stop the spread of COVID19 in Rwanda, unvaccinated people have been stopped from being in public places including churches.
It is for this reason that the Anglican Church in Rwanda has banned people who are not vaccinated from entering Churches to attend services. In a bid to enforce new restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 restriction has been put in place for attendees who are not fully vaccinated.
This follows a directive by the government last week indicating that church services held at places of worship should not exceed 50 percent maximum occupancy after the country recorded six cases of Omicron COVID-19 variant.
According to New Times, the Rev. Canon Antoine Rutayisire, the lead priest at Remera Anglican Church in Rwanda's capital Kigali said, "Every Christian will have to present the printed COVID-19 vaccine certificate before attending worship places starting from 3rd January."
The lay leader of Saint Andrew Church in eastern Rwanda said, "We have put sign posts at the door of our Church indicating that only those who are fully vaccinated can enter into the Church. We have appointed some people to be at the door to the Church to ensure that only those with vaccination certificates are allowed in."
According to statistics from the Rwandan Ministry of Health announced on December 19, a total of 4,731,511 people have so far been fully vaccinated, while 7,215,404 have received one dose.
Over 41,000 people have so far been given their booster jabs countrywide. The Ministry of Health is also vaccinating children in schools aged over 12 years old, with consent from their parents.
END
