We’ve been doing a lot of praying during the Covid-19 pandemic, whether for the pandemic to end or for our CNY calories to magically disappear (psst, they won’t, but you can exercise them off instead).
But most of it has been done at home.
With limits on congregants in house of worship, not everyone can attend religious services as they normally would.
And some houses of worship have had to close altogether.
Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, a Buddhist temple on Waterloo Street, closed for the first three days of Chinese New Year to avoid crowding.
Built in 1884, it is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Singapore and has been a popular place of worship for devotees of Guan Yin, the Chinese goddess of mercy.
Now that it has reopened, crowds have returned in droves.
Crowds Queued to Enter Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple on First Day of Reopening
Devotees turned up by the thousands at Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple on Monday (15 Feb) to receive blessings for the New Year.
After 5,000 people visited the temple last Thursday, the authorities made sure to implement a host of safety measures for its reopening.
This includes ensuring devotees observe safe distancing at all times while queuing, and limiting the number of congregants in the temple to 50 at any point in time.
Thousands reportedly queued to enter the temple when it reopened at 7am, and when the Straits Times visited the temple in the afternoon, there were still 500 people waiting in line.
Certis cisco officers were deployed to ensure safe distancing in the queue, and devotees could only enter the temple if they checked in using SafeEntry or TraceTogether tokens.
Low Risk of Transmission
Houses of worship present a concern for the authorities, as they’ve been the site of many super-spreader events in other countries.
It’s a place where a large group of people spend an extended period of time together, facilitating transmission of the coronavirus.
But Dr Leong Hoe Nam, infectious disease expert from Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said the risk of infection is low if devotees adhered to safe distancing rules and kept their masks on at all times.
The Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple opens from Monday to Friday, from 7am to 6.30pm, with the last entry at 6.15pm.
250 People Permitted in House of Worship
At the moment, a maximum of 250 congregants are allowed in a house of worship.
Live performance elements for congregational and other worship services, as well as religious rites, are also permitted.
For congregational services, worshippers have to be segregated into zones each holding a maximum of 50 people.
Organisers of religious services must also stagger entrance and exit timings to prevent devotees from different zones from mixing with each other.
Feature Image: Google Maps
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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