Marchisio Boateng
Churches in Germany are having services for the first time in over a month as the European country begins to ease coronavirus restrictions.
Members of each church must have nose masks, observe social distancing and no one is allowed to sing.
Many German churches reopened on Sunday morning after they were all closed for more than a month in an effort to avoid the widespread of the global pandemic COVID-19.
Cologne Cathedral, Europe’s largest church and Germany’s most visited landmark, has planned a special ceremony for friends of the church. Workers, choir members, lay readers and altar boys were invited to a ceremony of only 122 people in the enormous medieval cathedral which normally received 20,000 visitors a day.
As well as extra hygiene requirements, people must abide by the social distancing regulations that require members of the congregation to sit in designated seats 1.5 meters apart. All physical contact is forbidden, doing away with the traditional “well-wishing” handshake that makes up part of the Catholic ceremony.
To receive communion, floor markings have been laid out to avoid people coming too close to each other.
From Wednesday onward, Cologne Cathedral will hold public services once more, but the number of congregation members will remain at 122.
