With Greece suffering from an increasing number of coronavirus cases, the country's religious authorities have urged the public to continue to worship and take part in the rite of Holy Communion in order to help bring the epidemic to an end, with some invoking the argument that Jesus Christ himself never got sick.

"For the members of the Church, attending Eucharist and Communion through the common glass of life certainly cannot be a cause of disease transmission," the Greek Orthodox Church said in a statement on Monday.

Fears of virus infections have increased over the possibility of the virus being transmitted through Holy Communion and sharing of consecrated wine with the same spoon among each parishioner during mass.

Greece reported its first coronavirus case on Feb. 26, afted a woman who had recently returned from northern Italy was diagnosed. Many of the individuals who have caught the virus were pilgrims who had been on a tour of religious sites in Egypt and Israel in late February.