Anchor: As mass community-spread of the novel coronavirus in South Korea revolves around the Shincheonji Church of Jesus and its adherents, the South Korean government is moving quickly to contain the virus’ further spread via the secretive religious sect. The government has secured a complete list of its members and plans to distribute it to regional governments for virus tests of these followers. 
Park Jong-hong has the details.

Report: The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said on Tuesday that they have secured a list of 212-thousand Shincheonji Church followers. 

The headquarters said the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will convey the list to local governments by late Wednesday and start conducting virus tests on those on the list. 

The headquarters also plans to encourage non-member recruits of the church to get tested. 

As of 9 a.m., Tuesday, about 500 COVID-19 cases have been connected to the church in Daegu, which accounts for some 56 percent of total confirmed cases in the country.

Not only for the troubles befalling its own members, Shincheonji is also drawing attention for its possible connection to a hospital near Daegu, which has emerged as another major outbreak site in the country. 

The elder brother of Shincheonji Church of Jesus leader Lee Man-hee was found to have suffered from pneumonia before dying late last month at Daenam Hospital in the North Gyeongsang provincial county of Cheongdo. 

According to Shincheonji’s Daegu branch on Tuesday, Lee’s elder brother was transported to the hospital’s ER in an ambulance on January 27, after having difficulty breathing.  

An official from the church said it cannot be determined whether Lee developed pneumonia due to COVID-19 because an autopsy was not carried out. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 110 confirmed patients were from the hospital. Seven out of the 12 people who have died of the disease had also been treated there. 

As suspicions grow as to how members of the religious sect began to contract the disease in the first place, a Hong Kong daily reported that Shincheonji held meetings in Wuhan, the virus epicenter of China, up until last December.

The South China Morning Post(SCMP) on Wednesday said some 200 members of the religious group in Wuhan only stopped gathering after realizing that their community had been hit by the virus.

Most are reportedly under quarantine outside the city.

A 28-year-old kindergarten teacher who is a Shincheonji member said rumors about the virus began circulating in November, but no one took them seriously until the following month.
Park Jong-hong KBS World Radio News