On June 3, the Jiangsu CC&TSPM issued a notice on the reopening of churches. The notice included information on the conditions that need to be met, how to improve management and carry out prevention measures. Religious groups need to be responsible and ensure the safety of their worship sites.
According to the notice, Christian venues in the province should continue to work at preventing another outbreak of the coronavirus in the country. The implementation of the "one site, one policy; one site, one precept," requires a scientifically formulated work plan and an emergency plan for the site to be reopened.
With the approval of the local religious affairs department and the local CC&TSPM, churches will be able to reopen from June 2. Places or areas that have not met the conditions reopening, because of issues like poor ventilation or narrow spaces, will need to open at a later time.
Christian churches are required to arrange their activities in accordance with the government requirements. Churches need to control the size and time of meetings and religious activities, reduce unnecessary activities, and in principle not hold large-scale religious activities. They also need to implement guidelines regarding registration for meetings, follow the Suzhou City Code for inspection and verification, take temperatures of those attending meetings, disinfect and clean public facilities, equipment and public spaces
The hours when the church is open need to be flexible, appointments need to made and the flow of personnel restricted. The number of people who can be at the site at any one time need to be controlled so that it does not exceed 50 percent of the pre-pandemic period. Other restrictions also need to be adopted for the church to reopen.
- Translated by Abigail Wu