Russia’s public health authority issues recommendations for reopening places of worship

Russia’s public health authority, Rospotrebnadzor, has issued recommendations for gradually allowing worshipers access to temples, Interfax reports, on the basis of a government document in the publication’s possession. 

According to the recommendations, the first stage of reopening will require maintaining a social distance of four square meters between worshipers, in addition to a limit of no more than 100 people inside the temple at a time. During the second stage, this limit will be increased to 200 people. The third stage will see the restrictions on the number of worshipers lifted.

Rospotrebnadzor has also suggested limiting the number of people visiting temples for purposes other than worship to between two and ten individuals at a time, depending on the size of the area.

For monasteries, Rospotrebnadzor recommends allowing worshippers access to the temple on site, but restricting their access to the rest of the monastery grounds.