South Korean health authorities yesterday said that they aim to test more than 200,000 members of a church at the center of a surge of new COVID-19 cases that has taken the country’s tally to 893.
South Korea’s fast-spreading outbreak has fueled fears that the coronavirus, which is believed to have begun in Wuhan, China, in December last year, is developing into a global pandemic.
About 60 percent of South Korea’s cases have been linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, where the first case was reported in a 61-year-old woman, but it is not known how she became infected.
Of 60 new cases reported yesterday, 16 were in the southeastern city of Daegu, where the church is located, and 33 from nearby North Gyeongsang Province, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
South Korea also reported its ninth death from the virus, a patient from a hospital in North Gyeongsang Province.
The leader of the church said it had agreed to provide authorities with the names of all its members in South Korea, estimated by media at about 215,000 people.
The government would conduct coronavirus tests on all members “as soon as possible” once it gets the information, the South Korean prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“It is essential to test all of the church members in order to contain the spread of the virus and relieve public anxiety,” the office said.
Vice Minister of Health Kim Kang-lip said the priority was to test about 1,300 of the 9,200 members of the Daegu church who are showing symptoms, which he said would be completed by today.
“We will make utmost efforts with the goal of stabilizing the situation in Daegu within four weeks,” he told a media briefing, adding that the government would trace all other Daegu citizens having symptoms for isolation and checks.
The church, which has faced public criticism of its handling of the outbreak, asked the government to ensure the personal details of its members did not become public.
The church founder and self-proclaimed messiah, Lee Man-hee, said the church was cooperating with the government to stop the outbreak and beside its members, it would also check people in church training programs.
“All of these will be implemented on the premise that the government takes steps to protect their personal information,” Lee said in a letter posted online.
North Gyeongsang Province has also seen surges in cases in the past few weeks, most from a hospital in Cheongdo, which was last week designated a “special care zone” along with Daegu.
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