BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Thousands of people on Sunday attended the funeral of Serbian Patriarch Irinej who died after contracting the coronavirus, many ignoring preventive measures against the pandemic. Irinej, 90, died on Friday, three weeks after attending the funeral of another cleric in neighboring Montenegro in which mourners kissed his remains lying in an open casket although he also died from COVID-19 complications. The Serbian Orthodox Church has asked mourners to keep their distance and wear face masks in line with the anti-virus recommendations, but even priests inside the temple were without masks. Serbian epidemiologists have said there was no way they could ban the traditional funeral prayers. After reporting thousands of daily new cases of infections in the country of 7 million people, authorities have warned that the health system has been overburdened with hospitals running out of beds.

Source: Daily Sun November 22, 2020 13:18 UTC