Serbia’s leading religious figure has contracted coronavirus, days after attending a large public funeral for a senior bishop who died of Covid-19.
Patriarch Irinej, the 90-year-old head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, was admitted to hospital on Wednesday.
He led the funeral of the church’s most senior cleric in Montenegro, 82-year-old Amfilohije Radovic, on Sunday.
Mourners gathered at the event without masks and many kissed the bishop’s body as it lay in an open coffin.
This was despite a major spike in coronavirus cases in both Serbia and Montenegro, and a warning from the authorities that the event posed a risk to public health.
Amfilohije, who died on Friday, described pilgrimages as “God’s vaccine” and avoided wearing a mask.
As well as Patriarch Irinej, several other people who attended the funeral are believed to have contracted Covid-19.
Amfilohije’s successor, meanwhile, was said to be suffering with “mild pneumonia”.
Montenegro’s Prime Minister-designate Zdravko Krivokapic and Serbia’s president also attended the event in Podgorica, Montenegro.
“His Holiness is hospitalised in a Covid-19 hospital in Belgrade,” Patriach Irinej’s office said in a statement. “[He remains] without symptoms and is in excellent health.”
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European countries are responding to a second wave of infections, and many are seeing spikes in cases and hospital admissions.
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- Greece announced a second lockdown would come into effect from Saturday and would remain in place for three weeks. It comes after a new daily infection record of 2,646 confirmed cases was reported on Wednesday. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said “it was a difficult decision” but “measures must be taken… to overcome this second wave”
- Greeks will only be able to leave their homes if they make an official request via a text message and then receive authorisation. But unlike the first lockdown, primary schools will stay open under the mmereasons
- In Italy, four regions will face the strictest form of lockdown from Friday. The country has a three-colour lockdown system and Lombardy, Piedmont, Val D’Aosta and Calabria have been declared “red zones” meaning people can only leave home for essential reasons
- In England, a new four-week lockdown has begun. People have been told to stay at home and non-essential shops, pubs and gyms have been ordered to cclose
- Elsewhere, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is self-isolating after someone in his circle came into contact with a person infected with Covid-19
And in Russia, Moscow’s mayor said the city’s coronavirus situation was getting worse. Infections have been climbing in the country at a sharp rate in recent weeks
