Persons planning to wed in an  ‘Owanbe style’ during the coronavirus [COVID-19] in Rivers State might have to rethink their plans as the state government has approved COVID-19 guidelines for marriages and weddings with N10m fine to be paid by violators.

The guidelines were approved by the state executive council in a meeting presided over by Governor Nyesom Wike.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, who revealed this said prospective couples would be required to apply to the governor through the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation.

He said such application must be accompanied with information of the venue of the ceremony, names, addresses and phones’ numbers of attendees to make contact tracing easy.

On burials, Nsirim said families of deceased would also be expected to include in their applications the names, addresses and phone numbers of those to attend such funerals.

Nsirim said the government would not grant approval to any application without names, addresses and phone numbers.

He said marriages would not have more than 50 attendees, including family members, who must wear face masks and adhere strictly to the social distancing of not less than two metres.

According to him, while church weddings must be conducted between 9 a.m and noon and traditional marriages would be conducted between 4 p.m and 7 p.m.

The commissioner said venues of marriages must have provisions for running water and soap at three points and the venue decontaminated after the event.