Protective prayer at Northern Ireland drive-in church service

With churches around the world helping to rein in the coronavirus pandemic by holding their services online, a church in Northern Ireland has taken another route.

Pastor Billy Jones preached to around 100 cars from an open lorry in the car park of the protestant Dunseverick Baptist Church on Sunday as mass goers - some on their own, others with their cars full - tuned in to his words on their car radios. "Today was rather different," Jones told Reuters after he greeted each car as it left the church, situated between the picturesque Giant's Causeway and Old Bushmills Whiskey Distillery.

"We were avoiding any contact with one another, yet we were in an environment where people received encouragement, comfort and indeed challenge from the word of God," he said, urging the community to work together to tackle the virus. Northern Ireland reported its second coronavirus death on Sunday as the number of cases in the British region rose to 128 from 108.