In times of great worry, many people turn to God. But some faithful who'd been hoping for divine intervention to sort out the Covid-19 crisis might be out of luck.

In Lipetsk, about 400km from Moscow, a religious procession to ward off Covid-19 was canceled for the exact reason it was planned – because of the virus. Christian devotees from the city were disappointed to discover that their planned ceremony was dropped due to Lipetsk's strict quarantine regime. On March 11, rules were introduced to combat the spread of coronavirus. Like in some other Russian cities, such as Moscow, mass gatherings of over a certain number of people have been banned until further notice.

The procession’s organiser and head of the Lipetsk community of Holy Royal Martyrs, Lt. Col. Yuri Bernikov, announced that prayers for the afflicted would have to take place elsewhere.

“In Lipetsk, due to the ban on all public events, the akathist [a type of Orthodox prayer] ‪on March 15 is canceled. We ask you, at the same time, to conduct akathists at church and read prayers for [dealing with] the coronavirus,” Bernikov wrote.

Lipetsk has three confirmed cases of Covid-19, a woman and a married couple who returned there from a holiday in Italy. In response, the regional governor Igor Artamonov decided to close all schools and colleges for two weeks.

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