There seems to be confusion in terms of whether people can visit their place of worship or if the head priest/Imam/religious leader can visit the place of worship to conduct daily/weekly religious prayers.
Please note the following Covid-19 message with addition around guidelines for places for worship, says Sergeant Gurpreet Arora, District Ethnic Services Coordinator, Counties Manukau.
Arrangements are being made to make the addition to the message on the Covid-19 website.
What does self-isolation mean?
Self-isolation means staying at home.
The Government has asked all New Zealanders to stay at home to help stop the spread of Covid-19.
You can leave your house to:
• Access essential services, like buying groceries, or going to a bank or pharmacy.
• Go to work if you work for an essential service.
• Go for a walk, or exercise and enjoy nature.
You cannot leave your house to visit any place of worship. It is the responsibility of the management of these places of worship to ensure their venues are closed to everyone including head priests/Imam’s/religious leaders.
By allowing your head priest/Imam/religious leader to leave their home and visit place of worship to conduct religious prayers/ceremony, you are not only jeopardising their safety by exposing them to risk but putting public at risk. Remember once they return home, they will be exposing their families to the risk by being outside.
Everyone should stay at home. This is the best thing we can all do to stop the spread of Covid-19. This will save lives.
Please follow the rules. Police may be monitoring people and asking questions of people who were out and about during the lockdown to check what they were doing.
