Church-Originated COVID-19 Spread Continues... Daejeon City Strengthens Religious Facility Inspections and Administrative Measures

Citizens are waiting to receive COVID-19 diagnostic tests at a temporary screening clinic. The photo is unrelated to the article. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Cases of confirmed COVID-19 infections after church services continue to occur in Daejeon. The Daejeon city government has announced plans to strengthen administrative measures against religious facilities, including churches, for infection prevention activities and violations.

According to the city on the 7th, as of 9 PM the previous day, six new confirmed COVID-19 cases (Daejeon cases 895 to 900) were reported. On that day, three cases (Daejeon 892 to 894) were confirmed in the morning, followed by six additional cases in the afternoon, totaling nine new confirmed cases in the region.

Notably, four of these cases?Daejeon 894 and Daejeon 897 to 899?are members of Church A located in Jung-gu, where about 20 people gathered for worship services on December 31 of last year and on the 3rd of this month, respectively.

COVID-19 cases linked to Church A have also been reported in Sejong. Sejong case 155, confirmed positive on the 5th, is understood to have attended the same worship service on the same day with confirmed cases from Daejeon, according to the health authorities' investigation.

Sejong 155 is an employee of the Korea Transport Institute, and this confirmed case’s acquaintance (Sejong 157) and two family members (Sejong 156 and 158) were also confirmed positive on the 6th.

The health authorities are currently conducting a full investigation of 460 employees, including those at the Korea Transport Institute, and church members who attended worship services with confirmed cases from Daejeon and Sejong are awaiting COVID-19 test results.

In Daejeon, a total of 84 confirmed cases have been linked to the Sangju BTJ Yeolbang Center (a Christian missionary facility). In relation to this, the city issued administrative orders for COVID-19 testing and gathering bans targeting visitors to the Sangju BTJ Yeolbang Center from November 27 to December 30 of last year.

Those subject to the order must complete testing by 6 PM on the 8th, and the gathering ban will remain in effect until a separate lifting order is issued.

Additionally, considering the increase in confirmed cases related to religious facilities such as churches, the city will expand inspections, which had been focused on weekend religious activities, to include weekdays (such as Wednesday services).

The city also plans to respond strongly by holding religious facilities accountable each time they violate quarantine rules and hold gatherings.

A city official stated, “Confirmed cases are increasing in the community through religious facilities. The city will strengthen inspection activities targeting religious facilities and will respond strongly through administrative measures when violations are detected.”

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