South Korea's health authorities have cautiously assessed that the country's COVID-19 outbreak is showing signs of containment. 

Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said on Sunday during a news briefing that health authorities have almost completed virus tests on the followers of the Shincheonji church in Daegu. The authorities are now focusing their efforts on testing and finding infected people among Daegu citizens not linked to the church.

South Korea reported 367 additional cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, marking the first time in eleven days the daily number of new infections fell below 400. 

Noting the recent decline in the number of new cases, Park assessed that the hardest-hit Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province appear to be in an early stage of slowdown for the virus outbreak.   

He attributed the slowdown to citizens' voluntary cooperation in efforts to contain the outbreak, adding there are no signs yet that the virus is rapidly spreading across the nation beyond Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.   

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, South Korea reported 179 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to seven-thousand-313.