Mourners pay their respect over the casket of Serbia's late Patriarch Irinej, who died of coronavirus infection, during funeral rites at Belgrade's St Sava temple, in Belgrade, Serbia, Nov 21, 2020. BELGRADE: Several thousand worshippers and clergy, some without face masks, filed steadily into a Belgrade church on Saturday to pay their respects to Patriarch Irinej, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who died aged 90 after contracting COVID-19.
Most, however, solemnly walked past it and wore protective masks as they paid their respects to Irinej, who became the Church's 45th patriarch a decade ago. Like other European countries, Serbia has seen a spike in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, and Predrag Kon, an epidemiologist and a member of the state committee tasked with combating COVID-19, said the Patriarch's funeral"is a great risk"."That gathering is not acceptable... But that is something no one can ban," Kon told state television.
Serbia's government imposed tighter coronavirus controls on Saturday, such as requiring face masks to be worn outside"where distance can not be maintained" from next week.
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