South Korea Links 400 COVID-19 Cases To Church Cluster

More than 400 coronavirus (COVID-19) cases have been identified in relation to a church in northern Seoul, South Korea as of Tuesday, the news agency Yonhap reports.

“After a member of Sarang Jeil Church first tested positive on 12 August, 123 more were identified on Monday, raising the number of cases to 438, which includes 282 in Seoul,” Park Yu-mi, the capital city government’s director of public health, told a press briefing.

There are fears that this growing outbreak could escalate, with nearly 1,000 cases identified in the past five days.

Yonhap says the Sarang Jeil cluster is now South Korea’s second biggest after the Shincheonji religious group, where 5,214 were infected. Most of the Shincheonji cases broke out in the southeastern city of Daegu.

Half of the Sarang Jeil’s 4,000 members has so far been tested, with 16% returning positive results, Yohnap says.