Churches and mosques are adopting new measures when conducting weekly religious ceremonies so as to prevent the spread among worshippers of the new virus that causes COVID-19.

Some religious institutions have decided to close their doors and broadcast services over the internet, while others are conducting services for small groups only.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Tokyo has suspended Sunday public Masses through the rest of March, deciding instead to livestream them. "It is an unusual measure, but we made the decision to prevent the spread of the coronavirus," said an official.