The Asunción Paraguay Temple closed on Wednesday in response to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 virus, the Church announced in an updated statement.
Two cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed in Paraguay as of Tuesday, according to Reuters. The country has suspended public school sessions and large-scale public events for 15 days.
The Asunción temple, which was rededicated by Elder D. Todd Christofferson in November 2019, is the eighth worldwide to temporarily close. Other temples include:
- Vancouver British Columbia Temple
- Fukuoka Japan Temple
- Rome Italy Temple
- Seoul Korea Temple
- Sapporo Japan Temple
- Seattle Washington Temple
- Taipei Taiwan Temple
Updated story: More temple closures, guidelines for large gatherings at Church-owned college campuses
The Hong Kong China Temple and Tokyo Japan Temple continue to remain closed for renovation.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic.
“All countries can still change the course of this pandemic if countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief. “We are deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.”
More than 121,000 people have been infected worldwide by the new coronavirus and over 4,300 have died, the Associated Press reported.
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have announced changes to general conference, missionary training and stake conferences. Read more about those changes here.
