Coronavirus ‘super spreader’ at South Korean church cult sparks infection fears in Daegu city

Almost half the country’s 104 cases have been linked to a follower of the controversial Shincheonji Church of Jesus

Daegu’s mayor has urged the city’s 2.5 million residents to refrain from going outside as cases spike, and asked them to wear masks even indoors

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Workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant in Daegu, South Korea, as cases of the new coronavirus surge. Photo: AP

Published: 7:00pm, 20 Feb 2020Updated: 9:48pm, 28 Feb 2020

A cluster of at least 43 coronavirus infections at a church in South Korea – almost half the country’s total cases – has shed light on a “doomsday cult” that has earned a reputation for controversy due to its unconventional evangelistic activities.

There are now 104 cases in South Korea after numbers almost tripled from Tuesday. The country reported 53 new cases on Thursday – 51 in the city of Daegu and two in Seoul, the capital – after having confirmed 20 new cases a day earlier.

South Korea also reported its first casualty, a man in his 60s who was a long-term patient at a hospital in Cheondgo county, which has emerged as a secondary cluster with 15 confirmed cases, including the deceased man.

Two patients who were reportedly in the psychiatric ward tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, prompting authorities to begin testing all patients and staff. The man who died had shown symptoms of pneumonia but his status was only established posthumously.

At the centre of the church cluster is a 61-year-old woman, a follower of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, who was earlier diagnosed as the country’s 31st patient. The cluster has been described as a “super-spreading event” by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).