50 Days of COVID-19, Defining Moments... 'Patient 31 and Lee Man-hee's Big Bow'

Lee Man-hee, the Chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), is performing a deep bow at a press conference related to the COVID-19 situation held on the 2nd at the Shincheonji Palace of Peace in Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the 9th, it marked the 50th day since the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in South Korea. Since a Chinese woman (born in 1984) who entered from Wuhan, China, was confirmed positive on January 20, a total of 7,382 infections have been reported in the country as of midnight on this day. As a cluster outbreak centered around the Shincheonji Jesus Church in Daegu occurred, the number of additional confirmed cases, which had been pouring out at 600 to 700 per day at the end of February and early this month, slowed down thanks to intensive diagnostic testing by quarantine authorities and local governments. The 'social distancing campaign,' including working from home and refraining from large-scale gatherings and religious activities, also had an effect. Sporadic cluster infections are still occurring mainly in some regions, and patients are emerging from multi-use facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes, creating a coexistence of risks for community transmission. We have reviewed the decisive moments of COVID-19 occurrences in South Korea over the past 50 days.

'Super-spreader' signal flare, Patient No. 31 emerges
Lee Man-hee, Shincheonji Chairman, offers deep apology
Deaths among confirmed cases exceed 50

During the first month after the first confirmed case in the country, the number of patients occurred at an average of one per day, but on the 18th of last month, the 31st confirmed patient (born in 1959, female) appeared, and the number increased exponentially. The Shincheonji Daegu Church, which became the epicenter of the cluster infection, was revealed through patient No. 31. At Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, Gyeongbuk Province, 120 related patients have been reported to date, making it a representative cluster outbreak site. The government secured a list of about 240,000 Shincheonji followers nationwide and, together with local governments, identified symptomatic individuals and conducted diagnostic tests, leading to a rapid increase in confirmed cases. After surpassing 1,000 on February 26, the number entered the 2,000s two days later on February 28, and exceeded 3,000 the following day. Increasing by about 1,000 per day or two, the total surpassed 7,000 on the 7th.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, as of the 8th, among 7,134 confirmed cases in the country, about 63%, or 4,482 patients, were related to Shincheonji. As the situation spiraled out of control, Lee Man-hee, the Shincheonji Chairman, appeared before the press on the 2nd and bowed deeply to apologize to the public. As the cluster outbreak was revealed, deaths among confirmed cases continued to occur. Since the first death on the 19th of last month, 51 people had lost their lives as of the morning of this day. Eighty-six percent of the deceased were elderly aged 60 or older, and most had underlying conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.

Focused Shincheonji Testing and Social Distancing Effects
New Confirmed Cases Drop to 200s in 12 Days

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, the daily additional confirmed cases have been continuously decreasing: 518 on the 6th, 483 on the 7th, 367 on the 8th, and 248 on the 9th. The number of new daily confirmed cases fell to the 200s for the first time in 12 days since 253 on the 26th of last month. The number of additional confirmed cases in Daegu, where the Shincheonji Daegu Church-related patients surged, has sharply decreased, leading to an overall reduction in total patients. Daegu's daily additional confirmed cases peaked at 741 on the 29th of last month, dropped to the 400s on the 4th (405 cases), and sharply decreased to 190 on this day. This was because quarantine authorities and the city quickly identified patients through focused testing of Shincheonji followers. Among the 10,471 Shincheonji Daegu Church followers managed by Daegu City, 10,220 have completed testing, and among the 9,651 whose results have been notified, 4,137 tested positive. Most of these are believed to have been reflected in the authorities' electronic system.

The effect of the 'social distancing' campaign, emphasized by the government, local governments, and related academic societies, also appears to have been realized through voluntary public participation. The Korean Society of Preventive Medicine proposed the social distancing campaign on the 19th of last month, and Seoul City expanded the ban on gatherings in major areas starting from the 26th of last month. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the main ministry related to religion, requested on the 28th of last month to refrain from offline religious gatherings, and the Catholic Church, Buddhist community, and Christian community participated in this. Additionally, the nationwide COVID-19 countermeasure committee from various academic fields issued a public appeal on the 29th of last month urging 'minimization of social contact.'

Image source=Yonhap News

'Big Fire' at Shincheonji Daegu Controlled
Sporadic Cluster Infections Continue
Seoul Metropolitan Area, Hospitals, Nursing Homes as 'Detonators'

While focusing on social distancing and blocking further spread from the Shincheonji Daegu Church, sporadic patients have been emerging in cluster facilities nationwide since last week. With dozens of confirmed cases appearing in places where vulnerable individuals reside, such as nursing homes, hospitals, and facilities for the disabled, quarantine authorities are on high alert to prevent further cluster infections. In particular, the number of patients is gradually increasing in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, which have large populations. Gyeonggi Province has seen about 10 additional confirmed cases daily since the 5th, and Seoul reported 12 new cases on the 8th and 10 on this day.

The government has shifted the focus of quarantine measures outside the Shincheonji Church and decided to carefully monitor nursing homes and long-term care hospitals where elderly people with weakened immunity gather. Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, warned, "Since the Seoul metropolitan area is densely populated with 10 to 20 million people, the most dangerous scenario is cluster infections occurring in enclosed environments or exposure to infection in medical institutions."

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