Nationwide Local Governments' 'War Against Shincheonji'... Accelerating COVID-19 Full-Scale Investigation (Comprehensive)

Speeding Up Complete Survey to Secure Church Member List
Police Visit Each Household to Identify Locations

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Jeong Il-woong, Lee Hyun-joo, Lee Kwan-joo] The government has secured the list of Shincheonji Church of Jesus (Shincheonji) believers, the starting point of the COVID-19 cluster outbreak, accelerating the nationwide full-scale investigation of these individuals.

According to local governments and police nationwide on the 28th, Seoul conducted a full investigation on the 27th targeting 28,317 Shincheonji believers residing in Seoul in cooperation with 25 autonomous districts. The telephone survey revealed that 1,485 of them were unreachable. Among those contacted, 68 believers either immediately hung up or said they could not answer. The city has begun a second survey, and among 217 symptomatic individuals, 31 underwent specimen collection, while 186 were guided to visit screening clinics at each district health center for testing. The police are visiting the homes of those who did not answer the phone to locate them.

In Gyeonggi-do, which is the most proactive in securing the Shincheonji list, a full investigation of 33,582 Shincheonji believers in the province began on the 26th. Gyeonggi-do first conducted COVID-19 tests on 4,890 residents of Gyeonggi-do who attended the Shincheonji General Assembly headquarters worship in Gwacheon on the 16th of this month, out of 9,930 attendees, identifying 215 symptomatic individuals. The province is working with the police to locate 195 people who could not be reached by phone and 28 people without contact information.

Daejeon conducted a full investigation of 12,335 Shincheonji believers and identified 167 with suspected COVID-19 symptoms. These symptomatic individuals were instructed to self-quarantine and visit screening clinics for testing, while the remaining asymptomatic believers will have their health status checked twice daily by phone for two weeks by the relevant autonomous districts. For the 807 who did not respond, additional investigations will be conducted with Shincheonji, and if contact is still not made, the police will be requested to locate them.

In Chungcheongnam-do, health status was surveyed for 4,736 out of 5,225 believers who were contacted, with 87 classified as symptomatic. Among them, 6 reside in other regions, and specimens were collected from 81 symptomatic individuals for testing. For the 519 unreachable individuals, each city and county will reconfirm and then request the police to locate them. Chungnam Province also plans to conduct a full investigation of 1,305 Shincheonji trainees in the province, whose list was additionally received through the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters the previous day.

In Ulsan, telephone surveys were conducted on 3,802 out of 4,013 Shincheonji believers in the region, with 154 classified as symptomatic. There were 181 unreachable believers and 23 who refused to answer. Ulsan city explained that those who refused to answer hung up during the call.

Jeju Province began telephone interviews on 102 Shincheonji trainees in the province from that day. The previous day, health status was checked for 646 Shincheonji believers in Jeju, with 36 residents showing symptoms. However, all symptomatic individuals tested negative. Jeju Province is working with the police to locate 12 Shincheonji believers who could not be reached (9 unreachable, 3 residing outside the province including overseas). Gangwon-do also secured a list of 10,331 Shincheonji believers in the region that day and began confirming their whereabouts.

Earlier, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters received a list of 212,324 domestic believers and 33,281 overseas believers from the Shincheonji headquarters, and additionally obtained a list of 65,127 Shincheonji trainees the previous day. The police have formed a 'COVID-19 Rapid Response Team' with 5,753 officers deployed across 18 provincial police agencies and 255 police stations nationwide to locate suspected COVID-19 patients and support epidemiological investigations by health authorities.