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Jun Kwang-hoon, head pastor at Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul’s Seongbuk District, boards a health center vehicle to get tested on Aug. 17. (Yonhap News)

Secondary and further COVID-19 infections associated with Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul’s Seongbuk District are turning up one after another in hospitals, daycare centers, call centers, and elsewhere. The situation is turning into a nationwide infection cluster as parishioners and people who have come in contact with them have tested positive outside the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) in provinces such as South Chungcheong, Gangwon, and North Jeolla.

On Aug. 18, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced that the number of cases in connection with Sarang Jeil Church had risen by 138 as of 12 pm that day, bringing the cumulative total to 457. It is South Korea’s second largest infection cluster to date, following the one connected to the Shincheonji religious sect in February. The number of patients continued to rise after the announcement, with an additional 70 diagnosed in Seoul alone as of 6 pm.

Even more worrying than the sheer number of patients is their regional distribution. Sarang Jeil Church members are distributed throughout South Korea, where cases of secondary and tertiary infection are already arising. Of the 457 total patients, 25 tested positive outside of the SCA: eight in South Chungcheong Province, five in Gangwon Province, four each in North Jeolla Province and North Gyeongsang Province, and two each in the cities of Daegu and Daejeon. A continuing nationwide spread is a very real danger.

According to figures released by the KCDC that day, a regional classification of the 3,436 of 4,066 Sarang Jeil Church members whose whereabouts had been ascertained showed 443 of them to be living outside the SCA. The members were distributed across a wide range of regions, with 77 in North Gyeongsang, 57 in South Chungcheong, 47 in South Gyeongsang, and 43 in Busan. In a regular briefing the same day, Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCHQ) General Coordinator and Vice Health Minister Kim Kang-lip said, “Since Sarang Jeil Church members are distributed across the country and attend churches in other regions as well, we have provided local governments with a list of members and are working to prevent further spreading.”

The threat of additional transmission through Sarang Jeil Church patients who attended rallies at Gyeongbokgung Palace on Aug. 8 and at Gwanghwamun Square on Aug. 15 is already becoming a reality. On Aug. 18, the KCDC announced that at least 10 people who tested positive in connection with Sarang Jeil Church attended one or both of the rallies. Seven congregation members at Changdae Church in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, tested positive the same day, following another Changdae Church member who had been diagnosed earlier after being in contact with a Sarang Jeil Church member living in Gapyeong. Some of the Changdae Church patients also attended the Gwanghwamun rally on Aug. 15.

The list of establishments affected is a complex tangle of call centers, hospitals, and other locations besides churches. On Aug. 18, the KCDC announced eight locations where cases of second transmission through Sarang Jeil Church had occurred, including 15 cases at Antioch Church in Seoul’s Nowon District, seven at the Lotte Home Shopping Media Seoul Center, four at an NH Card call center, two at a K Savings Banks call center, one at Saemaeum Nursing Hospital, and one at a nursing home in Seoul’s Amsa neighborhood. At Antioch Church, an additional 15 patients were diagnosed that day after a member who attended services at Sarang Jeil Church tested positive on Aug. 15. Nowon District issued an assembly ban on Antioch Church the same day.

The entire Eye Hospital at Severance Hospital in Seoul’s Sinchon neighborhood was shut down that day after a nurse who’d attended a Sarang Jeil Church service tested positive. Two other hospital employees were diagnosed that afternoon as cases of secondary transmission through contact with the nurse. Another Sarang Jeil Church parishioner who works at a daycare center in Seoul’s Gwangjin District tested positive on Aug. 17. In North Chungcheong Province, a patient in their 40s tested positive after visiting their mother, who is currently hospitalized at Hando Hospital in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The mother was infected after being in contact with another patient associated with Sarang Jeil Church – demonstrating a case of tertiary transmission.

KCDC Deputy Director Kwon Jun-wook said, “In addition to the six locations, we are also investigating different cases that are emerging without specified locations or establishments.”

“In the case of Sarang Jeil Church, it’s difficult to establish the time and place of the patients’ exposure. We believe that repeated cases of exposure and transmission occurred over an extended period of time through various church activities,” he added.

By Hwang Ye-rang and Song Gyung-hwa, staff reporters

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