Hello, I am Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at The Korea Times. I primarily cover financial authorities and write articles on a wide range of topics related to finance and capital markets. If you have any information to share, feel free to email me at jjh@koreatimes.co.kr, and I will review it carefully. I am committed to always doing my best to communicate with readers through high-quality articles.
Coronavirus infections surpass 2,000 after 39 days
Medical staff fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus encourage each other at Dongsan Hospital in Daegu, Friday. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection here reached 2,337, Friday, 39 days after the government reported the country's first case Jan. 20. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and Daegu City Government reported 571 new cases and three more deaths from the highly-contagious virus, bringing the death toll to 16 as of 10 p.m.
The spike in infections came just two days after the number surpassed 1,000.
Among the 571 new patients, 511 are residents of Daegu and the adjacent North Gyeongsang Province, areas hit hardest by the new coronavirus outbreak.
About 80 percent of the total confirmed cases have occurred there, with two major clusters of infections linked to the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, and Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province.
In its efforts to counter the fast spread of COVID-19 and track potential patients, the government has secured a list of about 310,000 members of the Shincheonji Church nationwide, including 210,000 active worshippers and 60,000 trainees.
The list has been distributed to all local governments, and massive testing is currently underway.
“To facilitate testing, each municipality has mobilized all possible means to secure an independent list of Shincheonji followers, including former members, in their region and is comparing it to that secured by the KCDC,” Vice Health and Welfare Minister Kim Gang-lip told reporters in a briefing. “We expect test results to be completed in a couple of days.”
This raises the likelihood that the country could continue to see snowballing infections.
Meanwhile, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin said the city government decided to file a complaint with the prosecution against the heads of the Shincheonji Church's Daegu branch for lying about the number of members in the region, saying they violated laws governing the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases.
Kwon said in a briefing that his administration had monitored about 8,200 members of the Daegu branch after receiving a list from the church, but officials found an additional 1,983 members after comparing it to the one given out by the KCDC.
“Daegu City Government will firmly respond to this omission and file a complaint against those responsible for the Shincheonji Church in Daegu,” Kwon said. “We will also consider filing a complaint against all people who have lied about their Shincheonji affiliation and caused confusion in the city government's monitoring and quarantine activities.”
In other news, a civic group consisting of families of former Shincheonji members, who tried to leave the controversial Christian sect, also filed a complaint with the prosecution against church founder Lee Man-hee for lying about the number of his followers and facilities to the local governments.