The Church announced the closure of the Vancouver British Columbia Temple in an updated statement on March 9.
The Vancouver temple is the seventh to temporarily close in response to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus. Other temples include:
- Fukuoka Japan Temple
- Rome Italy Temple
- Seoul Korea Temple
- Sapporo Japan Temple
- Seattle Washington Temple
- Taipei Taiwan Temple
The Hong Kong China Temple and Tokyo Japan Temple were previously closed for renovation.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 115,800 people have been infected worldwide by the new coronavirus and over 4,000 have died, the Associated Press reported.
According to the World Health Organization, those with mild cases recover in about two weeks. Severe cases may last three to six weeks. Almost three-fourths of the more than 80,000 diagnosed in mainland China have recovered, the AP reported.
As a safety precaution, worship services are currently limited or temporarily suspended in the following areas:
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Korea
- Seattle, Washington area
- Mongolia
- Germany
- Italy
- United Kingdom
To date, a total of 14 missions spanning the countries of Japan, Italy, Cambodia, Korea, Mongolia, Singapore and Thailand have been given detailed direction for reducing the number of missionaries. This includes receiving new temporary assignments or returning home, for those who were nearing the end of their missions.
Each missionary who returns home has been asked to self-isolate for 14 days following instructions from the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More information can be found on Newsroom.
For the latest information regarding temple closures and other COVID-19 updates, please visit https://www.thechurchnews.com/category/coronavirus.
