SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2020) Some members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus visited the Chinese city of Wuhan in January, the ground zero of the novel coronavirus, Kwon Jun-wook, the vice director of the South Korean Health Ministry's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Sunday.
Some 2113 COVID-19 cases in the country are said to be traced back to the church. The chain reaction allegedly began with a 61-year old parishioner from the city of Daegu, who refused to be tested for the virus as she had never visited China in the past. The prosecutors of the city of Suwon have already launched an investigation into Shincheonji leader Lee Man-hee for allegedly violating the outbreak prevention law, embezzlement, violation of trust.
"Regarding the Shincheonji members ... we are currently checking [their] history of visits abroad with the help from the Justice Ministry, and during that process, we have discovered that some members visited Wuhan in the middle of January, although their actual number is small," Kwon said.
Earlier in the day, South Korea registered 376 more coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of those infected with COVID-19 in the country to 3,526, according to the KCDC.
On a global scale, to date, the coronavirus disease has infected over 85,000 people, of whom 2,900 have died and nearly 40,000 have recovered. It has already spread to other 50 countries across the world.
