coronavirus

Visitors and pilgrims to churches, museums and landmarks in Rome have sharply declined following an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in northern Italy.

As the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus in Europe continued to grow, the French Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes announced that pilgrims were still welcome, but the pools the sick bathe in hoping for healing would be closed temporarily.

Amid concerns over the current outbreak of the coronavirus, several U.S. Catholic colleges and universities have canceled their international programs in Italy this semester or are closely monitoring the situation and prepared to cut programs short if necessary.

Amid continuing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, Catholic pilgrims in the Holy Land said they were being cautious but had no regrets about continuing with their pilgrimage.

The Chinese government has temporarily closed all of the country’s places of worship in an effort to contain the COVID-19 respiratory coronavirus that has now killed almost 3,000 people, with more than 80,000 around the world verified with infections.

After Israel reported that 18 people from a recent South Korean tour group were infected with COVID-19, a coronavirus, Israel has banned all flights from South Korea and Japan.

Suzanne Van Hulle, the global public health expert for Catholic Relief Services, is paying particularly close attention to the spread of the virus, also called COVID-19, to ensure CRS staff members in Asia are safe.

The Vatican donated thousands of protective masks to several Chinese provinces affected by the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.