Black Nazarene devotees urged to wear face masks; no touch, no kiss on religious images during Traslacion

ORGANIZERS of the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila urged devotees to wear face masks and observe physical distancing while participating in activities especially during the “Traslacion,” or the grand procession, to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases.

At a news briefing at Quiapo Church on Thursday, organizers said that minimum health protocols would be enforced during Masses and at Quirino Grandstand where the venerated image of the Black Nazarene would be put on display starting on Jan. 6.

“We request those who will attend Mass (inside Quiapo Church) to wear masks. In Manila, (Covid-19) positive cases are not that high but to avoid any surge, we hope the public will cooperate,” Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna said.

But Quiapo Church parish priest Fr. Rufino Sescon Jr. clarified that they would not limit the number of church-goers.

“We know that COVID-19 is already endemic. We are just taking care to avoid a surge,” he said.

The Department of Health (DOH) also issued a similar reminder as it “strongly” urged the public to wear face masks and ensure good airflow during the procession.

Earlier, it announced that it would place hospitals on code white alert starting Jan. 6, in which medical personnel would be on “on-call status for immediate mobilization” to ensure their readiness to respond to possible emergencies.

The DOH urged devotees to refrain from touching and kissing religious images to avoid the transmission of communicable diseases.

“Our data shows the continuous low transmission and mild presentation of COVID-19 locally,” it said in a statement. It also reported a “consistently low percentage of severe and critical cases (of Covid-19) among hospital admissions, currently at 11 percent.”

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, the DOH said the daily average new cases was 449, which was 10 percent lower than the 501 average daily cases from the previous week of Dec. 19 to 25.