Government: "40% of Sarang Jeil Church Management Targets Have Not Yet Been Tested... 70% Untested in Downtown Gatherings"

COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Regular Briefing
"Sarangjeil and Dosim Assembly Participants Must Get Tested Promptly"

Medical staff are assisting citizens with testing at the COVID-19 screening clinic set up at Seongbuk-gu Public Health Center in Seoul on the 25th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Regarding the largest cluster outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the Seoul Seongbuk-gu Sarang Jeil Church in the metropolitan area, the government has identified that about 40% of the managed individuals, including church members, have not undergone diagnostic testing.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 30th, a total of 5,281 cases of church members and visitors were confirmed through epidemiological investigations conducted after the cluster outbreak at this church, of which 3,235 cases (as of 6 p.m. the previous day) have been tested. Approximately 2,000 cases have either refused testing or have not been contacted, accounting for about 39%. It has been about two weeks since the first patient was confirmed on the 12th, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases is 1,035, with a considerably high positivity rate.

Regarding the August 15 downtown rally, in which many members of this church participated, a significant number of managed individuals have also not been tested. The government identified 55,488 individuals through base station information received from mobile carriers and bus passenger lists, of whom 15,325 have been tested. This means that over 40,000 people have not been tested, with more than 70% not responding to testing.

Son Young-rae, head of the Strategic Planning Division at the Central Accident Response Headquarters, said, "We are cooperating with the police and local governments to track locations if necessary and find those who have not been tested," adding, "If essential quarantine measures are not followed, it will be treated strictly as obstruction of epidemiological investigations, so we urge people to get tested as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, from today until the 6th of next month, high-intensity quarantine measures are scheduled in the metropolitan area, including restrictions or bans on the operation of restaurants, cafes, and indoor sports facilities. Seoul City has decided to take additional measures such as reducing bus operations during nighttime hours. This is to help people return home early; after 9 p.m., when in-store dining is suspended, the number of nighttime operations on 325 routes will decrease from 4,554 to 3,664, a reduction of 910 trips. This excludes 20 congested routes, late-night buses, and village buses.

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