Korea Races to Find Defiant Church Members as Virus Cases Surge
Korea Races to Find Radical Church Members as Virus Cases Surge
(Bloomberg) -- South Korea reported 297 more coronavirus cases on Wednesday, its biggest daily gain since March, amid concern that an uncooperative religious sect at the center of the flareup could be spreading infections nationwide.
The country’s health ministry said 3,275 members of the Sarang Jeil church have been tested with 568 confirmed infected. But nearly 400 members on a church-provided list aren’t reachable or have denied being members and another 600 can’t be identified.
The church pastor, who tested positive for the virus, told his parishioners at a rally last Saturday that the outbreak was a government conspiracy to undermine him and that the virus was intentionally brought into the congregation by outsiders.
Health officials also said the church’s membership appears to be geographically diverse, spanning across the country. This could pose a bigger challenge to containment than Korea’s previous large-scale church cluster in March, when over 5,000 infected members of the Shincheonji organization were concentrated in Daegu city.
“The trend of virus case growth will continue this week as members of Sarang Jeil church are still going through tests and there are a series of cluster infections in other areas,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said during a briefing Wednesday. “This week will be the most critical juncture in stopping the mass spread.”
South Korea’s resurgence has raised alarm that a country seen as a global model of democratic containment may be losing control. The church-linked flareup comes after daily cases hovered in the 30 to 50 range for weeks, underscoring the challenge that religious organizations that gather in large numbers poses to virus containment worldwide.
Despite the government’s plea to refrain from large gatherings, the church held political rallies on consecutive Saturdays this month at two major tourist attractions. Some sect members, many of whom are opposed to the current government, have refused to be tested or have fled after being tested positive.
Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it found secondary transmission at six venues including a church, a shopping mall, a call center and a bank.
On Tuesday, South Korea banned in-person worship services and large gatherings and shut high-risk facilities such as nightclubs and karaoke bars.
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