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South Korean health officials disinfect an area in front of the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Photo: Handout / AFP

Coronavirus: South Korea in crisis mode as Daegu cases surge

  • Infections have risen six-fold in three days to at least 208, with doomsday cult at centre of ‘super-spreading event’
  • New infections include three members of the 600,000-strong military
South Korea swung into emergency mode as it confirmed 104 more cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday, doubling its total number of patients in one day to 208 and making it the most infected country behind China and Japan.

It also reported a second casualty, a 54-year-old woman who died after being moved from Daegu to Busan for treatment, following the death of a man in his 60s on Thursday.

Three of the new cases involve a navy sailor, army officer and air force officer who were the first infections to be reported in South Korea’s 600,000-strong military. They had reportedly visited the southern city of Daegu, which has seen a spike in infections this week.

More than six in 10 patients in South Korea are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, a group that mainstream churches describe as a doomsday cult with 200,000 followers in the country.

President Moon Jae-in described the situation as “serious” and authorities indicated they expected more infections to be reported.

Coronavirus: at least 204 cases in South Korea as church infections spike

Jun Eun-kyeong, head of the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), said a survey of 4,500 church followers – about half of Shincheonji’s congregation in Daegu – revealed more than 500 were experiencing symptoms of Covid-19, which causes a pneumonia-like illness.

In a televised statement, Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun said the central government would focus resources on the southeastern region to address a shortage in hospital beds, medical personnel and equipment, and declared Daegu city a “special management zone”.

“A month into the (Covid-19 disease) outbreak, we have entered an emergency phase,” Chung said. “Our efforts until now had been focused on blocking the illness from entering the country. But we will now shift the focus on preventing the illness from spreading further in local communities.”

Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo ordered military officials to work closely with health authorities to prevent the virus from spreading inside the military, and take special quarantine steps. Jeong also ordered the military to strictly restrict all enlisted troops from taking holidays and meeting visitors from outside, the defence ministry said.

A soldier has her temperature taken at the gate of an army unit in Goyang, South Korea, on February 4, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE
On Jeju, a popular destination for Chinese tourists, sailors at the naval base who had come into contact with the infected man who is in a civilian hospital were put under quarantine, with all soldiers ordered to wear face masks. The army officer is in a military hospital and in relatively stable condition, North Chungcheong Province governor Lee Si-jong told reporters.
The mayor of Daegu on Thursday urged the city’s 2.5 million people to stay at home and wear masks even indoors if possible, while the city’s US Army garrison – where about 10,000 soldiers, civilians and family members live or work – has restricted access and instructed any American troops who recently attended Shincheonji services to self-quarantine.

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Streets in Daegu on Friday were deserted, with people avoiding shopping malls and markets, while the city closed public facilities. The Catholic Church suspended mass for the first time in its history.

In Seoul, commuters donned face masks and gave shops a wide berth. While the city government imposed a ban on mass public rallies, groups of conservatives defiantly vowed to push through with their weekly protests in the city centre against Moon’s leadership.

A commuter wears a mask on a subway in Seoul on February 20, 2020. Photo: Reuters

OUT OF CONTROL

South Korea’s second death and surge in cases, alongside new infections in Iran and Chinese hospitals and prisons, has rekindled concerns about the disease that has infected more than 76,000 people and killed more than 2,200.

Until Tuesday this week, South Korea had reported 31 patients, with most of these connected to travellers from mainland China. Since February 2, it had barred travellers from Hubei province, the epicentre of the contagion, but authorities had resisted calls to have an all-out ban on Chinese travellers. They did ramp up scrutiny of passengers from Hong Kong and Macau, which together have 79 cases.

Last week, Moon had even expressed confidence that the epidemic would be under control, and called for efforts to turn to revitalising the sluggish economy.

But a six-fold rise in patients in just three days has sparked fears that the outbreak is getting out of control and circulating within the local population, although World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday said the new cases were mostly linked to known, existing clusters of infections, and that Seoul was following them very closely.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, inspects a public health centre in Seongdong district, Seoul, on February 5, 2020. Photo: YNA/dpa
“The number of cases are really manageable, and I hope South Korea will do everything to contain this outbreak at this early stage,” he said, adding that more than half of the virus cases outside China were from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan.
The KCDC on Wednesday identified a 61-year-old Shincheonji follower as starting a “super-spreading event”, after she attended at least four church services while having a fever. She had refused testing twice, saying she had not travelled to mainland China.

One patient died on Friday in the country’s second casualty, becoming part of the 12 people to have died outside mainland China.

The outbreak of the disease is a devilry committed by Satan in order to stop our church from growing
Lee Man-hee, founder of Shincheonji
Shincheonji said it had closed all of its 74 sanctuaries around the nation and told followers to instead watch its worship services on YouTube. Outside South Korea, it boasts 20,000 followers from 30 other places, including Hong Kong.
On Friday, the group’s controversial leader, 88-year-old Lee Man-hee – whom the church describes as an angel of Jesus – urged followers to cooperate with health authorities to contain the virus.

“I know the outbreak of the disease is a devilry committed by Satan in order to stop our church from growing after seeing its fast growth,” Lee wrote in a text message that was published in local news media.

An Imperial guard wears a face mask outside the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul on February 17, 2020. Photo: AP

Pastor Shin Hyun-wook, a former Shincheonji follower who quit the group in 2006 and is now an anti-cult campaigner, said: “Shincheonji followers are insensitive to catching virus … They believe people get ill because they lack faith.”

The church, set up in 1984 and known for attempting to recruit followers in the streets or in other churches without revealing their affiliation, has recently been mired in scandal.

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Kim Nam-hee, who was Lee’s “spiritual wife” and his second-in-command, publicly broke up with him after condemning him as a “crook who is interested in nothing but money”.

She accused him of making advances to her when she was married with two children, asserting that she and her family members would die unless she divorced her husband.

“Lee Man-hee is neither a saviour nor a god but a human like all of us. Shincheonji which worships him as a saviour should be disbanded,” she said in a YouTube video.

Additional reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: South Korea in emergency mode as cases double
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