There will be no crossover service for in all Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), parishes in Nigeria on December 31, the church announced on Tuesday.
A press release from the church’s National Headquarters said the decision was a response to the continued spread of COVID-19 virus, which has been declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
This is regardless of agreements in some states on modalities for stemming the tide, including Lagos, where Christian leaders had agreed with the government not to spend more than two hours of service in observance of the yearly ritual.
Instead of physical church attendance and worship, the RCCG, has opted for the virtual edition of service, which was entrenched in the heat of the pandemic early in the year and has instructed members to connect electronically. It also said the January Holy Ghost Service (the first of the year 2021) taking place on Friday, January 8, will hold virtually.
Members were advised to tune in to Dove television and other electronic media to link up with the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s End of Year message and other aspects of the crossover programme.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), warning of a spike which has made the second wave more apparent, said the country recorded 749 new COVID-cases on Tuesday December 29 , almost twice the 397 announced on Monday with three deaths, two in Abuja and one in Kano, putting the national death toll at 1,267.
Chikwe Iheakwazu, Director General of NCDC, while warning of the implication of the fresh threat, said: “We just faced the worst week since we started responding to this outbreak. We had more cases in Nigeria last week than in any other previous week since the beginning of the outbreak.
“Pictures and videos from across the country paint a very disheartening situation because it appears that our messages, our appeals to Nigerians over the last few months have not been heeded and we have gone ahead with business as usual.
“Events centres are full, social activities are full and so it is no surprises that cases are rising. January will be a tough month, no doubt about it. So, we have to brace ourselves for the consequences of the activities that we have decided to carry out in December.”
