Ramaphosa Meets Church Leaders On How To Contain The COVID-19 Pandemic

Nyakallo Tefu

President Cyril Ramaphosa has reached an agreement with religious leaders to postpone or cancel all large church gatherings ahead of Easter weekend services.

This follows a meeting with inter-faith religious leaders at the presidential guest house in Pretoria to discuss ways on how to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in South Africa.

There are 116 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country, according to the department of health.

However, there are no confirmed deaths from the virus.

Around the world, countries are adopting sweeping measures to stem the spread of the virus, including shutting down airports, imposing travel restrictions and closing borders.  

Ramaphosa said the agreement with interfaith religious leaders to postpone religious activities followed long and protracted negotiations.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Methodist Church, Muslim Council and Reverend Barnabas Lekganyane of the Zion Christian Church, which boasts over 16 million