hankyoreh

Manmin Central Church in Seoul’s Guro District, where a recent COVID-19 transmission cluster emerged. (Yonhap News)

Churches in South Korea continue to act as center stage for novel coronavirus transmission clusters.

According to accounts from the city of Seoul and South Jeolla Province on Mar. 30, new patients continue to be diagnosed from Manmin Church congregations in those regions. Seven individuals associated with Manmin Central Church in Seoul’s Guro District were additionally diagnosed that day, including employees and congregation members. A total of 29 people had tested positive at Manmin Church congregations in Seoul, Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, and Bupyeong District, Incheon, since the first patient was diagnosed on Mar. 25. In the case of the Manmin Central Church cluster in Guro, the first diagnosed case involved a church employee working under a three-shift system at the home of the church’s pastor in the Sindaebang No. 2 neighborhood of Dongjak District. The employee began experiencing symptoms on Mar. 17 and tested positive on Mar. 25.

The problem is the overlapping of movements between patients diagnosed at the Manmin Church in Guro and the one in Muan, South Jeolla Province. A husband and wife from the Mokpo area who attended a “Muan Sweet Water 20th anniversary” commemorative event at the Muan church on Mar. 5 both tested positive, as did three out of 70 employees and congregation members from the Guro church who also attended. This is raising fears of cluster infections involving both Manmin Church congregations in Guro and Muan.

In addition to the commemorative event, the Mokpo couple was also confirmed to have attended services four times over the preceding month, including services at the Muan church on Mar. 1 and 8 and at the Manmin Church in Mokpo on Mar. 16. South Jeolla Province issued administrative orders on Mar. 26 barring assemblies at the Mokpo and Muan churches and closing their facilities.

“Since the congregation members from the two churches who attended the Mar. 5 event in Muan began showing symptoms around the same time (Mar. 17 in Guro, Mar. 19 in Mokpo), we’re looking into any connections,” said Kim Yeong-du, director of the province’s health promotion division.

“The husband and wife sell steamed buns on the street, which put them in contact with untold numbers of people. There could be different sources of infection, so we’re doing an in-depth epidemiological study,” Kim added.

Meanwhile, the city of Seoul plans to impose up to 3 million won (US$2,461) in fines on the organizers and attendees of services at Sarang Jeil Church, which went ahead with worship on Mar. 29 in defiance of an administrative order banning assemblies. The city acquired photographs and video footage that it plans to use to verify the identities of service attendees and organizers. The head pastor at the church is Rev. Jeon Gwang-hoon, general representative of the organization Headquarters for the National Struggle for the Resignation of Moon Jae-in. He is currently under detention.

By Lee Jeong-gyu, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]