Nigerians celebrate Palm Sunday at home as coronavirus cases rises

Many Christians on Sunday for the first time in many years did not go out to church for the Palm Sunday service, and instead stayed at home as they comply with the social distancing orders by the government.

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter and begins Holy Week, also known as Passion Week. It is the day that Christians celebrate the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, an event recorded in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11: 1-11, Luke 19:28-44 and John 12:12-19.

The Federal/State government’s order maintained that there must be at least a distance of 2 metres between persons in a gathering to stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Whilst some worship centres continued their services online, some churches were closely monitored by law enforcement agencies in the state.

Meanwhile, Nigeria on Sunday confirmed ten new cases of the COVID-19 and one new death.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) made the announcement via its verified Twitter account at 11:15 am.

However, the development brings the total number of cases in the country to 224. Of the ten new cases, six are in Lagos, two are in Edo, while the other two are in the FCT.

Currently, five persons have died from the disease while 27 others have recovered and discharged.

Below is the breakdown of cases by states:

Lagos- 115

FCT- 45

Osun- 20

Oyo- 9

Akwa Ibom- 5

Ogun- 4

Edo- 9

Kaduna- 4

Bauchi- 6

Enugu- 2

Ekiti- 2

Rivers-1

Benue- 1

Ondo- 1