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<p>The Places of Taskforce met on 2 November. In addition, roundtables have been held
with the country’s major faith groups to discuss the guidance.</p><p>Discussions with
our faith groups at these meetings, as they have been throughout the pandemic, have
been extremely helpful. They have provided us with an opportunity to share information
with our faith groups, as well as hearing of their concerns. We will continue to draw
on the expertise of the Taskforce in the coming days.</p><p>I am very grateful to
our faith communities for their efforts to ensure their places of worship are as Covid-secure
as possible. However, the evidence from the scientific community, and from SAGE, points
to an increasing rate of infection overall. We therefore need to reduce the level
of interaction and the number of gatherings that take place, and with regret, places
of worship are closed for communal prayer.</p><p>The regulations now in force will
expire on 2 December, at which point we hope to be able to be able to ease restrictions.</p>
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