Official Nationwide Christmas SOP For CMCO, RMCO & EMCO Areas

This is an English translation of the official guidelines and SOP published by the National Security Council.

Volodymyr Hryshchenko/Unsplash

Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates.

Here are the official standard operating procedures and guidelines for Christmas celebrations in Recovery Movement Control (RMCO) and Conditional Movement Control (CMCO) areas, nationwide.

What’s allowed

Prayers, religious ceremonies and activities at places of worship; churches, chapels and minor basilicas.

Religious activities and prayers at houses of worship are allowed to take place only on Christmas Eve (24 December) and Christmas Day (25 December) depending on where it is held and the capacity (per-square-foot) of the event location.
Attendance limited to:

Christmas celebrations at personal and private residences

Attendance limited to;

Prayers and religious ceremony time

Christmas Eve (24 December)
– Only two sessions are allowed to take place for a maximum of 90 minutes per-session between 5pm – 9.30pm

Christmas Day (25 December)
– Only three sessions are allowed to take place for a maximum of 90 minutes per-session between 7am – 1.45pm

45-minute intermissions between sessions are acquired to allow for cleaning and sanitization works.

Covid-19 Preventive Measures

Places of worship and staff would need to;

Ensure worshipers and visitors register themselves using the MySejahtera mobile application or sign in their attendance manually
Ensure visitors abide by SOP by sanitizing, maintaining physical distancing and wear face masks at all times.
Ensure worship areas remain clean and sanitized.

Worshipers and visitors would need to;

Worshipers are not allowed to gather and congregate outside places of worship before and after religious ceremonies are over.
Those who are sick or showing symptoms of illness are banned from attending worship.
Senior citizens and children are encouraged not to attend places of worship and ceremonies.
Worshipers must remain in designated areas allowed by the staff.
Worshipers must maintain physical distancing at a minimum of one meter from each other and wear face masks at all times.
Worshipers are not allowed to touch or embrace one another.
Meals and food can only be taken-away in packaged form and visitors are not allowed to dine at the place of worship.

What’s not allowed

Christmas carolling from home-to-home are strictly forbidden.
People are not allowed to touch or embrace one another and encouraged to exchange greetings with a simple bow.

List of other unauthorized activities can be found, HERE.

Enhanced Movement Control (EMCO) areas

The public is strictly prohibited from attending places of worship, social gatherings or partake in business activities in EMCO areas.
Only families living under the same roof are allowed to gather for celebrations at private and personal residences.

Share your thoughts with us on TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.