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A patient looks out from the window of her hospital in Cape Town.
Supplied by Esa Alexander
- Interreligious prayers are being held for Covid-19 patients and hospital staff in Cape Town.
- Each session is limited to 15 people, with face masks and social distancing is imposed.
- Unexpected arrivals are asked to remain in their cars.
Muslims and Christians stand side by side, hands open to the sky or together as they pray for coronavirus patients and health workers in Cape Town.
Religious groups of all faiths and backgrounds took turns participating in joint prayers outside hospitals for the past week, a show of spiritual support as a second wave of infections rages across the country.
“Under normal circumstances, any leader of this community would go freely to the home of a sick or grieving person,” said Pastor Gerhard de Vries-Block of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
“But because of the blockade we are no longer allowed to do that.”
Imam Sheik Salieg Isaacs has already prayed at more than a dozen hospital entrances and parking lots.
“For now, we are only in hospitals,” he told AFP. “But we are also thinking of going to hospices and some nursing homes soon.”
The initiative is a way of expressing solidarity with patients fighting alone against Covid-19, isolated from family and friends in hospital rooms wrapped in plastic.
“We may not always have something to say, but being there means a lot,” De Vries-Block said.
“Frontline workers need our support,” he added. “They need our prayers as much as the sick and the afflicted.”
Isaacs said that participants who personally knew a patient or a healthcare worker prayed outside their windows.
Prayer sessions are restricted to 15 people and unexpected arrivals are asked to stay in their cars.
The protocols for the use of face masks and social distancing are enforced.
“We use a loud megaphone so they can hear some sound,” the imam pointed out. “But the main thing is the visual that can give them some hope.”
South Africa has recorded the highest coronavirus rates on the continent, with more than 1.3 million cases and 37,000 confirmed deaths to date.
The second wave of infection began in December and is driven by a new variant of the virus that is believed to be more infectious.
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