Role of the religious bodies in containing Covid

Dr Murtaza Rashid/ Dr Mudasir Firdosi 

As of now Coronavirus outbreak has engulfed over three million people. There have been more than 300,000 deaths. Almost all the nations have been affected with enormous mortality and morbidity. Thousands are becoming jobless and economic recession is looming. Even the strongest of the economies are failing to cope up with the COVID 19 pandemic. Probably no one thought it would cause such a panic among the nations. Top international leaders were caught off guard. There was confusion all over. Everyone seemed unprepared. It spread like a wildfire. Major healthcare setups were shaken to roots.

A dearth of personnel protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators attracted headlines of almost all the print and the electronic media. Social media too was widely involved in narrating stories of the worst affected regions and highlighting lack of PPE.World Health Organization (WHO) and other leading experts started advocating social distancing.

Having no other option at the behest, countries one by one started ordering travel bans and lockdowns. The decisions to quarantine and social distancing were indeed hard to be made. People got stuck in foreign countries and non-native cities and villages.

The major gatherings we witness regularly are the religious ones. The four major religions of the world Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism have billions of followers who usually perform group prayers at specific places. These places of worship where people gather in large numbers posed a major challenge for the governments and public health experts. The assembly of people at these places could easily lead to a person to person transmission.

The COVID-19 infection essentially spread by droplet transmission would have been detrimental by such a huge assembly of people.  People come in close contact and this would essentially have created a much bigger disaster than what we see at the present.  Hundreds and thousands of people visit different places of worship according to their faith daily, either located in vicinity or faraway usually as pilgrimage sites.

However, some of the holiest religious places are present in specific countries and people all around the world travel to such destinations where congregations could be in millions at a time. People have faith in their religions and it was not an easy task to stop them from visiting such places.

There were a few incidents when some people wanted to put faith in their creator for their safety than scientific advice. Also, there are lots of fake healers who exploit religion and sell cures even for COVID-19.  

As soon as the present crisis started unfolding earlier this year, both the governments and the people started weighing its consequences. It was evident from the beginning that humankind is fighting an unseen enemy.

With no vaccines or effective treatments available, prevention through social distancing remained the only recourse. Vatican City, the heart of the Catholics around the world with more than a billion followers, has roughly twenty thousand visitors each day.

As Italy was one of the first countries to be hit hard, the Vatican announced that it’s Holy Week and Easter celebrations ‘will take place without the presence of the faithful’. Most churches across the world asked the congregants to avoid physical contact and intinction.

Meanwhile, the Church of England also issued advisories and adaptations. The twin holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia attract nearly twenty million pilgrims each year for Umrah (minor pilgrimage). Muslims all around the world usually come in groups to visit these religious sites.

As soon as the COVID 19 started spreading beyond eastern Asia, the authorities rightly suspended Umrah for international as well as the local pilgrims. Had this timely intervention not been undertaken, it would have caused an unimaginable catastrophe. In addition to that, mosques in the Middle East also suspended obligatory five-time congregational prayers and instead called upon the 'faithful' to pray at the homes. These were recited to them over the loudspeakers through azaan (call for the prayer).

Subsequently, most of the mosques world over asked the followers to stay and pray at home and fully cooperate with the competent authorities. The Muslim Council of Britain offered online services to keep in touch with the congregations.

India is home to near about a billion Hindus and second-biggest population of Muslims in the world. There are small and big temples scattered almost in each city and village. However, there are few temples and sites where Hindus come not only from India but from neighbouring countries too. 

Most of these temples like Shirdi Saibaba in Maharashtra, Jagganath in Puri, and Shri Mata Vaishnodevi in Jammu are visited by thousands of pilgrims daily. All of these temples were closed by the respective trusts. Famous Varanasi district banned Ganga arti (a special prayer) and yoga camps.

In a country like India with mixed religions and cultures, it is a humongous task to control all these activities. Hindus, Muslims, Sikh and Christian preachers resorted to social media to make appeals to their followers to stay inside homes and maintain social distancing.

This has been pretty effective and so far we do see a very less COVID 19 cases in India despite having such a huge population with diversity. Many gurdwaras also issued guidelines and advised devotees to take full precautions and maintain a safe distance. 

Jerusalem Israel, a city holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam attracts thousands from all over the world. The ‘western wall’ is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism and thousands of Jews come to touch its stones and to pray.

The chief Rabbi urged the people to avoid gathering at the holy site. The heritage centre said that the visitors will be separated into prayer areas of up to ten worshippers with space between the groups. The concerned authorities removed the prayer notes between the stones and sanitized the wall.

The authorities also disinfected The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is revered by Christians as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The visitors were strictly advised to avoid any act of devotion before and finally, the church was closed. The Islamic waqf council of Jerusalem also announced to halt the entry of worshippers into Al Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.

Many countries and governments have issued lockdown's and curfews to contain the movement of people. It is quite understandable that to make such restrictions a success we need a positive public response. The appeals made by the religious groups have to a large extent made people stay at the home.

Without these guidance’s and adaptations, it would have been impossible to maintain social distancing. Although the proximity while attending such services is a major concern what makes it much worse is that the average age of people attending are usually older, the vulnerable population.

Epidemiological data has indicated that COVID-19 seems not to spare any specific age but affects significantly who are old with comorbidities. These congregational places could have been a hub of disease and spread it exponentially.

Almost all the religious groups have unanimously called upon restrictions on gatherings at the funerals or conducted virtual prayers. Many sports leagues and Olympics have been indefinitely postponed and these steps also strengthened the idea of maintaining distances.

Now as the curve of the Pandemic is flattening, people are worried about the effects of lockdown on economies and livelihoods of people more so in poor countries. Slowly places are being opened up with precautions. This also includes the religious places and if people are not careful, this can lead to the second peak of infections and COVID-19 related deaths.

On Sunday 31st May Pope Francis made the first-noon address from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square in three months as Italy's lockdown drew to an end. He called upon prioritizing lives over the economy, hence stressing the need for following physical distance and seriousness of the pandemic.

Similarly, the Prophet’s mosque at holy city of Medina opened up as well after 3 months to allow prayers. Many religious groups are advocating for allowing congressional prayers around the world. After so much pain, both mental and spiritual, any laxity in the efforts can bring the disaster back to any village or city in the world if people don’t take precautions.

As of now, there is no cure or vaccine in the near sight and keeping the physical distance may be the only way to hold the reigns of this pandemic. Each religion teaches human values and the preservation of human life. If there is a fear for one's safety we can refrain from what is extremely desirable ritually and make some temporary adaptations. We all belong to this planet and it belongs to all of us.

Pandemics do not choose any religion or sects. They hammer every region and country, all age groups, both men and women, regardless of having a religion or not. It is our collective effort to be successful in winning this war. We should not get misled by our assumptions and our thinking.

Stigma, fear, and blame game are not uncommon in such crisis either. Unfortunately, there were attempts to associate COVID-19 with particular faiths in some countries but overall the response has been positive and overwhelmingly understating. It is important to listen to those experts who are at the forefront of COVID-19 research. 

While people may start assembling again to fulfill their religious obligations, it is pertinent that rules and regulations are followed as any laxity can lead to further disaster. Let us win this fight together to make our planet a safe and happy place for all of our future generations. 

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