Filomeno Vieira Dias considered that Eucharistic celebrations with large crowds of people should also be avoided.
In statements to the Catholic broadcaster, he said that the measure should not be perceived as an alarmism, "but is a preventive action" to "face this emergency situation" that "will be overcome by humanity.
There are "some guidelines" that have been given by the World Health Organization (WHO) and also by national bodies that recommend "specific preventive measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus," he recalled.
"And here we would like the faithful, from now on, to begin to accept, observe and follow these guidelines and not to neglect", the Archbishop of Luanda also pointed out.
Angola, with no confirmed case records, is developing contingency plans and control measures at the main points of entry into the country and has decreed, since 3 March, a ban on the entry of foreign citizens from China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, having extended these measures this Tuesday to Portugal, Spain and France.
For the president of CEAST, who expresses solidarity with the people and countries affected, the first measure "is a cry of prayer and hope that Christ will enlighten the intelligence of scientists" and that this great virus can be "overcome".
"We must also unite with those people who are affected at the moment after the infection with this virus in the countries of Europe, Asia and already in several countries of Africa, let us pray for these people," he stressed.
