'Christmas Mass and Worship' Attendance Limited to Up to 70% Fully Vaccinated... What About Including Unvaccinated?

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] On Christmas Day, the 25th, vaccine pass verification, negative test confirmation (quarantine pass), and capacity limits for social distancing at religious facilities will be applied to Masses and worship services held nationwide at cathedrals and churches to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus.

According to health authorities and religious circles on this day, from the 18th of last month until January 2nd of next year, regular religious activities such as Mass, worship, Buddhist ceremonies, and memorial services will be subject to the quarantine pass, allowing only fully vaccinated individuals to attend, with a maximum occupancy of 70% of total seats. At this time, those currently exempt from the quarantine pass, such as individuals with a negative PCR test, children and adolescents under 18, and COVID-19 recovered persons, are also not allowed to attend. Staff involved in conducting religious activities are excluded from the attendance count.

To hold regular religious activities including unvaccinated persons, only up to 30% of total seats or a maximum of 299 people can be admitted.

Religious small group meetings are also limited to a maximum of 4 fully vaccinated persons according to private gathering size limits. As with the current quarantine rules, masks must be worn at all times during religious activities. Choirs and praise teams must be composed only of fully vaccinated members and must wear masks while performing. Eating inside religious facilities and activities that generate many droplets, such as loud prayers, are prohibited.

This is part of the enhanced quarantine measures for religious facilities announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 17th. It was a measure issued just one day after controversy arose over religious facilities being excluded from strengthened social distancing measures, which was seen as leniency.

Regarding this, Son Youngrae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated, "Two options were derived to guarantee religious activities for unvaccinated persons, and facilities can choose whether to operate at 30% or 70% capacity. For unvaccinated persons, PCR negative confirmations and those under 18 are not recognized, and the focus is strictly on fully vaccinated individuals to strengthen protection for the elderly and unvaccinated."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.