Suncheon City Closes Shincheonji Church Worship Hall to Prevent COVID-19

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Amid concerns over the nationwide spread of COVID-19, Suncheon City is taking extraordinary measures for multi-use facilities to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do, announced on the 23rd that it disinfected the interior and exterior of churches within the city due to increasing anxiety among local residents caused by the rapid spread of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions.

On the 22nd, the city closed the Suncheon Shincheonji Church worship building in accordance with Article 49 (Preventive Measures for Infectious Diseases) of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act until the situation is under control.

The city also requested the Shincheonji Church to submit a list of believers who attended or visited worship services in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, but has faced difficulties as obtaining the list has not been easy.

Since the 1st, the city health center has been operating a COVID-19 response situation room 24 hours a day, with all staff on emergency duty, expanding screening clinics, and doing its best to ensure there are no gaps in patient care. Additionally, a weekly medical and pharmaceutical council meeting is held to further strengthen the public-private cooperative response system.

Furthermore, 24 quarantine and disinfection personnel were urgently hired and deployed to towns and townships, and the health center is conducting focused disinfection of multi-use facilities such as churches and cathedrals using three vehicles.

A representative from the Suncheon City Health Center said, “We ask for the active cooperation of citizens to make Suncheon City safe from COVID-19 by refraining from all group activities including religious groups, avoiding outings, wearing masks, washing hands, and observing cough etiquette. We will continue to carry out ongoing disinfection and maintain close cooperation with related organizations to make every effort to block the spread within the local community.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.