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Image photo of a church in South Korea
South Korea has faced its biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases in five months – with 279 cases reported on Sunday alone.
Many are affiliated with Sarang Jeil Church, whose pastor has been a vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in.
Another church, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, was identified earlier this year as South Korea’s largest virus cluster.
The controversial group was found to link to more than 5,200 cases.
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What do we know about the current outbreak?
South Korea reported 279 new virus cases on Sunday – the first time since March that 200 new daily infections have been transmitted.
An additional 197 cases were reported on Monday – marking the fourth straight day where infection numbers were in the triple digits.
It brings the total number of cases in the country to 15,515.
At least 312 of the new cases are linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, according to the Seoul metropolitan government, Yonhap News reported.
“Fan [Sarang Jeil’s] “4,000 churchgoers … 3,400 have been quarantined and 2,000 have been screened,” said Deputy Health Minister Kim Ganglip in a Yonhap report.
“Of these, 312 tested positive … a high positive rate of 16.1%.”
Mr. Kim also criticized the church, saying its membership list was “inaccurate” and that “there are difficulties in locating any church member”.
There has been a lot of anger against the church, with more than 200,000 people signing an online petition asking to keep lead pastor Rev Jun Kwang-hoon, Yonhap said.
President Moon said the outbreak posed the biggest challenge to the virus since the cluster was linked to Shincheonji Church.
Shincheonji Church leader Lee Man-hee was arrested earlier this month.
He is accused of concealing information about the members of the group and meetings of contact persons.
The church said it was concerned about the safety of members but never withheld information.
“The issuance of the arrest warrant by the court does not constitute a guilty verdict,” the church said in a statement. “Every effort will be made to discover the truth in the upcoming court cases.”
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The Shincheonji Church was linked to a majority of South Korea’s cases earlier this year
What do we know about the church of Sarang Jeil?
Not much is known about the Seoul-based church itself – though much more is known about its lead pastor Rev Jun Kwang-hoon.
The 63-year-old has been an outspoken government critic for years, and has reportedly led several anti-government associations in Seoul.
Over the weekend, he broke rules about self-isolation by participating in a rally himself.
President Moon called on church members who had followed Mr Jun in the rally, saying they were taking part in an “unforgettable act that threatens people’s lives”.
According to the Korean Herald, Mr Jun was told by his followers at a rally earlier this year that it was “patriotic to die of disease”, adding that “those suffering from illness will be cured if they attend the rally”.
Mr Jun was charged with libel earlier this year after calling President Moon a spy for North Korea, Yonhap reported.
On Sunday, the Seoul city government said it would take action against Mr Jun for violating rules of self-quarantine and the efforts of authorities to curb the spread of the virus.
South Korea currently limits indoor meetings to 50 people and outdoor meetings to 100 people.
It was hailed as a success story in dealing with Covid-19, after recording low figures earlier this year.
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It successfully used aggressive tracing and widespread testing to contain its first outbreak, but has seen persistent outbreaks in recent weeks.
