89 Visitors Hidden in Daegu's 'BTJ Yeolbang Center'... 60% Did Not Answer Their Phones

56 Visitors Tested... 4 Confirmed Positive with a 7.1% Positivity Rate

A view of the Christian missionary organization 'Intercop' BTJ World Center located in Hwaseo-myeon, Sangju-si.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Among the visitors to the Sangju BTJ Prayer Center, identified as the key link in the nationwide chain infection of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), 89 people from the Daegu area are still refusing to undergo COVID-19 testing.

According to Daegu City on the 11th, among the visitors to the Sangju BTJ Prayer Center identified by the Central Disease Control Headquarters, 153 reside in the Daegu area. Excluding 8 people transferred to other regions, only 56 out of 145 had been tested by the 10th. Among them, 4 tested positive (positivity rate 7.1%).

Daegu City explained that most of those who have not been tested deny having visited the center, claim their phone numbers were stolen, and some are unreachable due to call blocking, making it difficult to proceed with diagnostic testing.

Daegu City has assigned dedicated public officials to each untested individual and is cooperating with related agencies such as the police to track their whereabouts through location tracking.

A Daegu City official warned, "If violations of administrative orders cause community infection transmission, we will take strong legal measures, including criminal prosecution and claiming quarantine costs such as testing, investigation, and treatment due to confirmed cases."

Meanwhile, the Christian missionary organization 'InterCP,' which operates the Sangju BTJ Prayer Center, was established in 1983. Its website introduces it as an overseas missionary organization established for the purpose of "pioneering missions to unreached people groups." The website is currently closed.

Among the 2,837 visitors since the end of November last year, about 800 have been tested, and 154 of them tested positive. The cumulative confirmed cases linked to these 154 positive cases have reached 505 across 8 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide (as of midnight on the 11th).

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