Worldwide, families who normally would attend church in their Easter best and later gather for festive meals instead were hunkered down at home. Police checkpoints in Europe and outside closed churches elsewhere left the faithful with few worship options other than watching services online or on TV.
Christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday isolated in their homes by the Coronavirus while pastors preached the faith’s joyous news of Christ’s resurrection to empty pews. One Florida church drew a large turnout for a drive-in service in a parking lot.
Worshipers could be heard clapping, singing and responding “amen” during the service, though it was not clear how many attended.
In Europe, countries used roadblocks, fines and other tactics to keep people from traveling over an Easter weekend with beautiful spring weather.
On the hopeful side, officials said Italy recorded the lowest number of new Coronavirus victims in three weeks, with 431 people dying in the past day to bring its total to 19,899. It was the lowest day-to-day toll since March 19.
As hard-hit countries like Italy and Spain see reduced daily virus infections and deaths, economic pressures are mounting to loosen the tight restrictions on daily life.
Some European nations started tentative moves to ease their shutdowns. Spain, which on Sunday reported its lowest daily growth in infections in three weeks, will allow workers in some nonessential industries to return to factories and construction sites Monday.
