South Korea is hit by another string of coronavirus infections that were found emerging from 13 churches situated in and around Seoul. The country announced a major spike in the number of cases on Monday.
As per reports, the Korea Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 35 cases on Monday taking the toll to 11,503 in the country. The origin of infection of 23 cases out of 35 was linked to 11 churches in Incheon and two churches in Gyeonggi province.
KCDC has mentioned on its website, “It is presumed that transmission occurred between participants through events such as prayer meetings and praise meetings which the churches took turns hosting.”
It further added, “Contact management and investigation on the source of infection is underway.” The capital Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon provinces are the home the half of the South Korean population.
As per reports, another cluster found infected was linked to the Church’s pastor’s group in Gunpo and Anyang area of Gyeonggi province. KCDC mentioned, “It is presumed that transmission occurred through a gathering Jeju Island from May 25 to May 27, (which) 25 members from 12 churches participated. The investigation is underway for contacts of each church of the ministers.”
In the month of May, there was a surge of 74 cases in South Korea that was related to various groups in the church. The agency added, “In light of the recent ongoing spread of COVID-19 through bible studies, weekday meetings, and other religious gatherings, KCDC urged faith communities to refrain from gathering and switch to non-face-to-face meetings.”
A senior health official, Sohn Young-rae told Yonhap News agency, “Large-scale infections are feared to come in the Seoul metropolitan area, but we can succeed in containing the virus spread when citizens raise their guards against the pandemic to break the chain of virus transmissions.”
Reportedly, after the South Korean administration lifted social distancing measures and opened schools, night clubs, e-commerce warehouses, the country faced a series of mass infections. Till Sunday, 270 cases were found linked to night clubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district. Till Monday, 112 cases emerged that were linked to an e-commerce warehouse centre in Gyeonggi. As a result, South Korea re-imposed restrictive measures on last Thursday. 272 casualties due to coronavirus have been reported in South Korea.
