Beijing suspends religious gatherings to curb COVID-19 spread
All 155 religious venues in Beijing will be temporarily closed, and gatherings will be suspended starting Friday for epidemic control purposes, an official from the city’s Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission announced on Friday at a press conference.
So far, no COVID-19 infections have been found in the religious venues and among 840 religious staff in Beijing.
Beijing will carry out special investigations on and curb illegal religious activities in rural areas, to prevent the risk of cluster infections, he said.
The Beijing authority also announced a ban on large-scale celebrations and sales events around the country’s traditional Spring Festival, which is about one month from now, to prevent COVID-19 flare-ups in rural areas.
Residents are encouraged to postpone weddings, simplify funerals, avoid feasts and reduce gatherings.
The capital on Thursday found one more confirmed case in its Shunyi district, which declared a wartime mode on December 26 to curb COVID-19 spread after two cases were found. So far, Beijing has eight medium risk areas, among which are seven villages in Shunyi.
The announcement came after the cluster infections hit Beijing’s adjacent Hebei Province, where the cases mainly happened in local villages, based on the available epidemiological results.
127 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 183 asymptomatic carriers have been found in Hebei since January 2. Some of the patients in Shijiazhuang used to go to markets, weddings and other gatherings.