China: Temples Closed after Beijing Reports 1st Omicron Case

China closed religious sites in Beijing as a precautionary measure after the city reported its first Omicron case on Sunday.

Lama Temple, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in central Beijing, said it was closing down for an unspecified period due to the COVID-19 epidemic and control measures.

On Sunday, China reported 65 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases for Jan. 15, just weeks from the February 4 start of the city's Winter Olympic Games and the country's Lunar New Year holiday.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant has been detected in at least five provinces and municipalities, forcing cities to impose curbs in order to stop its spread.

On Saturday, Beijing reported the first local case of the Omicron variant, a person who had visited multiple malls and restaurants in the previous 14 days.

"It is too soon to conclude that Omicron will swamp China's efforts to suppress COVID," said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, in a note issued on Friday.

"But it is clear that the emergence of more transmissible variants is requiring more frequent interventions ... And the economic toll from this vigilance is mounting."

Mainland China reported 119 new confirmed COVID-19 cases for Jan. 15, including imported infections, down from 165 a day earlier, according to National Health Commission (NHC) data on Sunday.