On Friday, March 13, the Egyptian Catholic communities will pray for the victims of the coronavirus epidemic, asking Lord Jesus the recovery of the infected people, the merciful reception for who dies and the consolation for who loses their loved ones because of the disease.

In a statement released in the name of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Egypt, co-chaired by the Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak and by Melkite Patriarch Youssef Absi, it is acknowledged that the virus represents a global threat for the entire humanity, and the protection of the Lord is invoked over the Egyptian nation and “over every country in the world”.

According to official statistics released by the Egyptian Ministry of Health, there are about sixty cases of coronavirus infection so far.