So were early Christians who were threatened with death unless they said "Caesar is Lord" or burned some incense to his image forced to deny their faith? No, some were faithful to the death. Even if thrown into an arena to fight wild animals they could not be forced to deny Christ.

Were churches who complied with government orders to shutdown during COVID forced to close? In some cases I did see reports of law enforcement sent to physically violate their freedom to assemble, but most churches just went along with the edicts to get along, rather than suffer any inconveniences.