THE Bishop of Manchester has asked his churches to stop sharing communion wine in order to reduce the risk of swine flu being spread.

He is also urging clergy and congregations to use alcohol hand gel during worship.

The Bishop, the Rt Rev'd Nigel McCulloch, said: “Swine flu continues to be a mild disease for the vast majority of people and we pray that will continue to be the case.

"Today I have asked clergy to make changes to worship in their churches and start using hand gel. I am confident that if our advice is followed then we will have played our part in helping to reduce the risk of pandemic flu in church.”