The COVID-19 outbreak has posed challenges for Christian traditions, which often encourage close contact.

In Romania, where both Orthodox and Catholic churches hold huge sway, the ecclesiastical authorities have issued extensive guidance for how worshipers can reduce their risk of infection.

Under a plan entitled "Sanitary and Spiritual measures during epidemics," the Romanian Orthodox Church laid out in a press release actions to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Churchgoers with flu-like symptoms are asked to refrain from going to church and instead get their weekly salvation remotely, by tuning in to the Divine Liturgy on television or radio. The Roman Catholic Church in Romania took its followers online, urging the sick, the old and medically vulnerable to also stay at home and watch mass live on the internet.

In addition to general guidance – such as washing hands and covering mouths and noses when coughing and sneezing – parishioners are recommended to abstain from kissing relics and religious icons to avoid catching or spreading the disease. Under the recommendations, the Romanian Orthodox Church allows worshipers being administered wine during Holy Communion to bring their own spoon from home.

The Roman Catholic Church in Romania delivered its own exception from the religious ritual by overruling the handshake symbolizing peace between religious service attendees. In addition, the traditional blessing of worshipers by touching the forehead with holy water has also been restricted, together with advice to abstain from contact with the relics on display in the church.

However, not all churchgoers are taking these recommendations to heart. While some donned surgical masks during Sunday prayer, others proved more relaxed about the health threat and the Church's response to it.

At the Casin church in Bucharest on Sunday some among the congregation chose merely to run their fingers over the glass surface covering the gold-plated icons, while others still chose to bestow a traditional kiss.

Even the Romanian Orthodox Church appeared to contradict itself in another press release, explaining that the measures initially recommended were for those "scared, faint of heart and weak in faith." 

"The religious sermon can't be regarded as a source of illness, but of health coming from Christ. Believers who are strong in their faith should not fear getting sick by attending church or kissing religious icons," added Patriarch Daniel, the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, in the second press release.

Talking to CGTN Europe, Vlad Alexandrescu, former minister of culture in Romania's government, said the sudden change of heart suggests an internal conflict within the church as hardliners resist changes to the rituals that have been in place for hundreds of years.

"The sudden change of heart highlights the different groups withing the Romanian Orthodox Church, as conservative elements react and act to preserve the status-quo, stifling any shift in the religious ceremony," he said.

The spread of COVID-19 in Romania

Romania has so far recorded four cases of COVID-19 infection, with 37 people under quarantine and 9,700 kept in home isolation, according to the latest data release by health officials.

After the coronavirus outbreak was confirmed in Italy, home to around 1.3 million Romanian migrants, a degree of hysteria took hold in Romania, where alarmed shoppers stocked up on groceries, leaving food shelves empty, fearing that their country will be hit next.

The nationwide distress prompted politicians to call for calm, with President Klaus Iohannis urging people not to give in to false information "as the spread of fake news can trigger a panic epidemic."

Despite this plea for calm, in the Romanian county of Arges, where a quarantine center is expected to be set up, villagers took to the streets carrying pitchforks and axes in protest.

Florin Buicu, president of the Committee for Health in the Romanian parliament, told CGTN Europe there is a likelihood of fresh COVID-19 cases in the country over the next two months, as Romanians living in Spain and Italy return home for the Easter holiday.