Just six outbreaks connected with religious ceremonies

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said he will challenge authorities to provide evidence that attendance at religious ceremonies is linked to the spread of coronavirus.

It comes as data reveals that since the beginning of the pandemic there have been just six outbreaks of the virus connected with what the Government describes as ‘religious/other’ ceremonies. The revelation comes from the Department of Health despite the fact that tens of thousands of Masses including weddings, funeral and first Holy Communion ceremonies have taken place since churches reopened at the end of June.

The low number connected with such ceremonies is likely to put further pressure on the Government to relax the strict restrictions imposed on faith communities at level three and above. No other country in Europe except Wales has moved to ban religious ceremonies in response to a fresh upsurge in the pandemic and restrictions in Wales are due to last for only two weeks.

Minister Donnelly told the Dáil that he would “challenge NPHET to provide the evidence again [for the ban on public worship] because I agree that this is a major imposition”.

Outbreaks

Data released by the department in the Republic reveals that outbreaks traced back to religious ceremonies are lower than the vast majority of other locations and events listed. There were five open outbreaks and one with a closure status at the time. The department does not release data on which religious denomination the ceremonies that led to outbreaks are connected with. It also does not list what the so-called ‘other’ ceremonies refer to.

The data reveals that the largest number of outbreaks were recorded as originating from a private house, with 3,982 outbreaks in total.

Other locations with high numbers include nursing homes, in which there were 311 outbreaks in total, 229 in residential institutions, 198 in workplaces, 118 community outbreaks, 133 related to extended family and 137 in hospitals.

Overall, across all outbreak locations, there were 5,590 Covid-19 outbreaks.