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| Members of the Saemaul Women's Association make facial masks on their own in Busan, Thursday, amid a serious supply shortage caused by the rapid spread of COVID-19 nationwide. About 10,000 masks they produced will be provided to needy neighborhoods. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The government conducted an administrative investigation search of the headquarters of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, linked to most COVID-19 infections here, to secure more precise lists of its followers and facilities nationwide, officials said Thursday.
The investigation was started amid a growing controversy over the secretive sect's uncooperative attitude toward the government's desperate efforts to track down people exposed to the new coronavirus and stop its rapid spread.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 322 new cases as of 9 p.m. Thursday, bringing the nation's total number of infections to 6,088. On Wednesday, it detected 438 additional cases.
Most of the new infections were again identified in Daegu and the neighboring North Gyeongsang Province, with a major cluster linked to the Daegu branch of the minor religious sect.
Six more patients died from the virus, raising the death toll to 42. The fatalities were mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses.
The KCDC said a joint investigation team consisting of health authority officials and forensic analysis specialists from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office conducted a search of the Shincheonji headquarters located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, as municipalities have claimed that the lists of worshipers supplied by it were different from those each local government obtained from the church's branches.
This has raised suspicions that the church omitted information about some members when reporting to the government and municipalities.
"We decided to search the Shincheonji headquarters as some local governments have raised questions over the credibility of the lists supplied by the church," Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told reporters during a briefing. "Precise information is essential for a thorough quarantine. The government gave prior notice of the search to the church the previous day."
The joint investigation team is checking lists of active members and trainees of the church, and their attendance records as well as addresses of facilities nationwide.
Kim noted that Health Minister Park Neung-hoo consulted with Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae in advance before starting the investigation.
With more than 80 percent of the country's coronavirus cases coming from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the government, earlier in the day, designated Gyeongsan in the province as the nation's third "special care zone" for virus infections, after Daegu and Cheongdo were designated as such, Feb. 21.
The KCDC said more than 70 percent of North Gyeongsang Province's COVID-19 patients confirmed Tuesday came from Gyeongsan, noting that 135 Shincheonji followers out of 262 in the province were believed to reside there.
The government increases its monitoring and quarantine activities in the special care zones, and provides more medical resources and staff.
The KCDC added the government is allowing hospitals and pharmacies to check whether people have traveled to Italy and Iran amid soaring numbers of infections and deaths in those countries.
From now on, medical staff can check on a patients' travel history to those countries through the International Traveler information System and Drug Utilization Review.
