ΈΚΛΕΙΣΕ Ο ΝΑΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΑΓΊΟΥ ΤΆΦΟΥ. Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre closes amid coronavirus fears.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered in Christian tradition as the site of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial, was ordered closed on Wednesday for a week, as a precaution against the coronavirus, church officials said.

“The Church of the Holy Sepulchre will be closed from 5p.m. on Wednesday,” Wadie Abu Nassar, media spokesperson of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, told Reuters.

He said the decision followed a meeting between Israeli police and senior church leaders on Wednesday.

“Of course the church leaders expressed understanding. The initial understanding is that this order is valid for one week, although nobody knows how long this crisis will take,” he said.

Reporting by Roleen Tafakji and Stephen Farrell, Writing by Rami Ayyub

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