The Methodist Church Ghana has announced that starting from January 2022, services in the various societies should not exceed a maximum duration of two hours.

In a letter issued by the Administrative Bishop on January 5, the Rt. Rev. Michael Bossman advised that owing to the surge in the rate of Omicron infections; the Church has considered the two-hour policy as a way of stemming the tide.

“I write to inform you that the Presiding Bishop has directed All Churches throughout the Methodist Connexion in Ghana to strictly observe the two-hour duration for all Church Services from January 2022.

"This is due to the rapid rise in the infection rate of the omicron variant of Covid-19 throughout the country”, the letter said.

According to the hierarchy of the Church, there’s the need to safeguard the lives of all members from the threat of the Omicron variant, thus the directive.

The Church also urged members to observe the relevant Covid-19 safety protocols while taking the prescribed Covid-19 jabs as well.

“Bishops are to monitor and ensure that the above directive is strictly adhered to in addition to the observance of all the other Covid-19 protocols of wearing masks, hand-washing regularly, and observing the social distances.

"We hope that the Covid-19 directives from the Ghana Health Service will be revisited and observed to protect the lives of our members in the face of this Omicron threat to lives.

"We plead with all who have not as yet gone for the Covid-19 vaccination to do so as soon as possible to boost their immunity status. Furthermore, announcements should be made to this effect to encourage all members to vaccinate”, the statement concluded.

At the moment, the Ghana Health Service reports 13,576 activeCOVID-19 cases, with 867 newly recorded cases. The country’s total case count is 148,079, with 133,190 recoveries and 1,313 casualties.

The Greater Accra Regions remains the hotspot of infections, followed by the Ashanti, Western and Eastern Regions.