SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea warned Monday of an emerging novel coronavirus crisis when new outbreaks erupted, including one linked to a church where more than 300 members of the congregation are infected, but hundreds more are reluctant to to test.
PHILO PHOTO: People wait for bus inside a glass-covered stop with a thermal imaging camera, UV sterilizer, air conditioner, CCTV and digital signs set up to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Seoul, South Korea, August 14 2020. REUTERS / Heo Ran
The outbreak linked to the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul is the largest country in nearly six months and led to stricter social distance rules on Sunday.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 197 new cases since midnight on Saturday, mostly in the Seoul metropolitan area, marking the fourth day of a three-digit number.
South Korea is one of the world-leading success stories for coronavirus, but it has nevertheless fought spikes in infections. The latest cases brought their total infections to 15,515 including 305 deaths.
“We see the current situation as an initial phase of a large-scale transfer,” KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyeong said at a briefing.
“We are facing a crisis, if if the current spread is not controlled, it would lead to an exponential rise in cases, which in turn could lead to the collapse of our medical system and enormous economic damage.”
The outbreak at Seoul’s church sparked fears in February when authorities struggled to contain an outbreak that broke out in a secret Christian sect in the city of Daegu and became the country’s deadliest cluster.
As in the previous case, authorities face some reluctance to cooperate and difficulties in following some of the members of the congregation.
Deputy Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told reporters earlier that the Presbyterian Church had provided inaccurate lists of its 4,000 members. While nearly 320 of them tested positive, including Pastor Jun Kwang-hoon, more than 600 who wanted to see authorities in isolation were not responsible.
“We are very concerned,” Kim said, dismissing rumors that authorities would dismiss church members and take any test as positive, despite the truth.
“That is impossible. We can not produce test results,” he said.
Jun, leader of the church, is a conservative activist who has also organized anti-government groups to call the oust of Liberal President Moon Jae-in, raising concerns that the virus has also spread to him during his protests.
‘OBSTRUCTION TRACING’
Jun, 64, on Saturday took part in a protest in violation of a government order isolating and testing all church members themselves.
His lawyers said at a news conference on Monday that Jun did not violate the rules of quarantine and deliberately did not provide incomplete lists. Jun said in an interview with a Christian media outlet that his church was a victim of “virus terror”.
A ban on church services was lifted in April although attendees are required to register and sit separately.
Kim said if the rate of new infections did not stabilize this week, the government would tighten distance, close high-risk facilities and ban indoor meetings of 50 people or more and open-air meetings of 100 or more.
The Ministry of Health has filed a complaint against Jun for violating quarantine rules and ‘tracking contacts’ by holding the Saturday rally and lacking a full list of members.
Jun previously sat on charges of violating election laws and was banned from joining protests as a guarantor. A prosecutor’s office said on Sunday it wanted its bail revoked.
Among smaller clusters of cases, 131 infections have been detected at a Christian church in the city of Yongin and about 42 have been linked to a coffee shop in the city of Paju.
Report by Hyonhee Shin; Edited by Robert Birsel
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