Over 50 Anglican churches in Kalangala to remain closed for failure to comply with SOPs

Kalangala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Dozens of Anglican churches on Ssese Islands in Kalangala district are to remain closed because of failure to abide by the standard operating procedures-SOPs to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.

Rev. Abraham Lubega Kisakye, the head of the training department in Namirembe Diocese ordered the churches to remain closed following an inspection exercise carried out this week.

He said although most of the churches have tried to comply with the SOPs, most of them have failed to secure temperature guns for measuring the body temperature of Christians before they are allowed in.

According to Rev. Lubega, only St. Stephen Kibanga and All Saints Lutoboka Church of Uganda out of over 50 churches inspected have met all the requirements.

David Tusuubira, the head of the laity Ssese Anglican parish says Christians are unable to raise the money required to purchase the necessary tools because the lockdown left many of the jobless.

He asked Christians to work together to put in place whatever is required so as to expedite the opening of the churches.

According to the Health Ministry guidelines, all worship places are required to install hand washing facilities, disinfect the church after each service, measure the body temperature of all congregants before they are allowed in the church, ensure physical distancing of at least 2 meters, register all Christians attending the services, enforce the wearing of masks and restrict the number of worshipers in each service to 70 people.

Coronavirus is spread through contact with the droplets of an infected person. The virus can be eliminated through regular hand sanitizing with alcohol-based sanitizer or water with soap.

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