Worshippers Flock Back As Churches, Temples Reopen

Many people have been attending Sunday church services again, after a ban on religious gatherings was lifted on Friday.

Churches and other religious venues have been closed since July when the third wave of coronavirus infections hit.

While they're now allowed to operate at half-capacity, church operators say they aren’t taking any chances and have adopted stringent anti-epidemic measures.

At St John’s Cathedral in Admiralty, Reverend Amos Poon told RTHK that apart from requiring churchgoers to wear face masks and undergo temperature checks as well as hand sanitising, visitors also need to fill in forms to help with contact-tracing.

“If something happens, we'll know where they were seated and who their close contacts were”, he said.

Churchgoers also said they're excited to be able to physically attend church services again.

“It’s been so many months already that we haven’t gone inside the church. So we are so excited to go in again to attend the service”, one follower said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of worshipers also flocked to the Wong Tai Sin temple upon its reopening.

They said they're happy to finally be back, saying they will pray for an end to the Covid-19 pandemic.