Priests across the country have discouraged people from physically attending church services to avoid spreading the new SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Warsaw Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz has dispensed churchgoers in his archdiocese from the obligation until March 29, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.
The exemption covers the elderly, people with symptoms of an infection, children and their carers, healthcare workers as well as all those who are afraid of getting infected, the news agency said.
The Polish Episcopal Conference, the central authority of the Catholic Church in Poland, has encouraged religious people nationwide to stay in "spiritual touch with the Church's community through radio, television and internet broadcasts."
Public broadcaster Polish Radio has said it will air an additional Catholic service to listeners live from Warsaw’s Holy Cross Basilica this Sunday.
Two such broadcasts are available, at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Polish Radio
Poland’s Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski has advised the public against attending religious services in churches amid an intensifying coronavirus outbreak.
He recommended that people stay at home and tune in to Sunday Mass broadcasts on the radio and television instead.
Polish Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski.
The government on Friday moved to ban public gatherings of more than 50 people to curb the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic.
About 93 percent of Poles declare themselves to be Catholics, according to the country's Catholic Church Statistics Institute.
More than 100 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Poland, with three deaths linked to the coronavirus so far.
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Source: IAR