Louisiana pastor Tony Spell said he plans to hold three services at his 1,000-member Life Tabernacle megachurch in a suburb of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Palm Sunday this weekend, defying state orders against assembling in large groups.

"We're defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel," he told Reuters.

Louisiana has become a U.S. hot spot for the virus, on Saturday reporting a jump in deaths to 409.