SEOUL, South Korea – Health officials in South Korea reported 279 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, warning of a recurrence of infections, many linked to a church opposed by President Moon Jae-in.
South Korea had been battling the epidemic since April to double-digit daily caseloads. But the number of new cases has grown recently, with 103 on Friday and 166 on Saturday, most of them worshipers at Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, the capital, and another church in the surrounding Gyeonggi province.
The outbreaks of the church have alerted health officials. Closely packed, ruthless prayer services in some South Korean churches have made them particularly vulnerable to the virus.
When South Korea was hit by its first wave of coronavirus in late February and early March, the epidemic spread mainly from the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the central city of Daegu, about 150 miles southeast of Seoul. The church is accused of being a cult by more mainstream churches. In the first wave of infections, the daily caseload across the country was as high as 909.
In the past four days, the Sarang Jeil Church has reported only 193 cases among its members and contacts, the Seoul metropolitan government said. President Moon warned on Sunday of an increase in infections in the coming days as health officials test thousands of church members and their contacts. He called the crisis at Sarang Jeil the biggest challenge facing health officials since the Shincheonji outbreak five months ago.
The Sarang Jeil Church has been as controversial as Shincheonji.
The chief pastor, the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, has in recent months been a driving force behind largely Christian conservative consolidations against Mr. Moon in central Seoul. Mr Jun accused Mr Moon’s liberal government of trying to “communicate” South Korea and called for a public uprising to “oust” the president from office.
Mr Jun was arrested in February on charges of violating election laws before the April parliamentary elections. He was accused of asking participants in his rallies to support certain political parties before the official election period began. Since his release on bail in April, he has continued his political activism, calling for a major anti-lunar rally in Seoul on Saturday.
The city council of Seoul banned the rally and temporarily closed its church, citing fears that a large gathering would spread the virus. More than 4,000 members of Mr Jun’s church were also instructed to isolate and test for the virus themselves for two weeks.
But Mr Jun ignored the order, attending a rally in central Seoul on Saturday organized by another anti-government conservative group. He claimed that the outbreak in his church was caused by a “terrorist” attack aimed at political activism.
‘They threw the virus at our church,’ he said during the rally, without indicating who he was referring to.
Health officials said his accusation was not worth commenting on. Mr. Jun is known for filling rhetorical speeches with provocative and unsupportive claims.
Mr. Jun said he urged his congresses not to participate in the rally on Saturday and stay home. But local news media reported that members of his church were among thousands of anti-government protesters on Saturday, some of them wearing no masks.
Mr Moon on Sunday called her participation in the rally an “unforgettable act”.
“Many of those who had to go into self-isolation showed up in street protests, which raises the serious possibility that they have spread the virus to Protestants who came from all over the country,” said Mr. Moon on his Facebook page. “This is a clear challenge to the state’s disease prevention system and an unforgettable action against the safety of the people.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Updated August 12, 2020
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Can I travel in the United States?
- Many states have travel restrictions, and many of them are taking active measures to enforce those restrictions, such as issuing fines or requiring visitors to be quarantined for 14 days. Here is an ever-updating list of restrictions across statewide. In general, travel increases your chances of getting and spreading the virus, because you will encounter more people than if you stayed at home in your own ‘pod’. “Staying at home is the best way to protect yourself and others from Covid-19,” the CDC said. However, if you are traveling, take precautionary measures. If you can, drive. If you have to fly, be careful when choosing your airline. But know that airlines are taking real steps to keep planes clean and limit your risk.
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- The incentive bills introduced in March provide assistance to the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for support are non-profit companies and organizations with less than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some sectors are also eligible. The assistance provided, which is managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Damage Disaster Program. But many people have not seen payments yet. Even those who have received help are confused: the rules are draconian, and some are stuck on money they do not know how to use. Many small business owners get less than they expected or heard nothing at all.
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- It is unlikely that many schools will return to a regular schedule this fall, requiring the grinding of online learning, easy childcare and stunted workdays to continue. The two largest public school districts of California – Los Angeles and San Diego – said on July 13 that instruction will be remote only in the fall, citing concerns that growing coronavirus infections in their areas pose too great a risk to students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll about 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country to date to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classes when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution will not be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are creating hybrid plans that include some days attending classrooms and other days online. There is no national policy yet, so check regularly with your municipal school system to see what is happening in your municipality.
Mr Moon vowed to take “decisive action, including coercive measures” against Mr Jun’s church. Also on Sunday, the Seoul city government said it would prosecute Mr Jun for violating disease control laws by spreading false rumors about the epidemic and by ignoring a government order to isolate itself.
Thousands of Protestants, many of them elderly, attended the anti-Moon rally on Saturday, ignoring rain and official plea to stay home amid the rise in coronavirus infections. On the same day, Kwon Jun-wook, a deputy director of Central Disease Control’s headquarters, warned of “early signs of a large-scale resurgence of the virus.”
Over the weekend, the government tightened social-segregation rules in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, which have a combined population of about 20 million people. Under the new rules, spectators will be excluded from professional baseball and football games. Authorities have the power to ban large gatherings and close high-risk facilities, such as karaoke rooms, nightclubs and buffet restaurants, if they fail to enforce increased precautionary measures, including temperature controls, keeping all visitors safe and requiring wearing masks.
Virus fears also prompted South Korea and the United States on Sunday to delay an annual joint military drill by two days, after which it rescheduled to begin on Tuesday. The Allies decided to suspend the exercise after an officer of the South Korean army was expected to take part in the drill positive tests.
Until now, health officials have refrained from designating churches as high-risk facilities for fear of being accused of undermining religious freedom. But even before the outburst in the church of Mr. Jun, small clusters of infections have continued to erupt in recent months.
