Everything About South Korea’s New Wave of COVID-19 Simplified for You

For months, South Korea has served as a role model in the region.

After the infamous Daegu episode, the country garnered international praise for overcoming the disease through a mixture of aggressive testing and contact tracing.

It also achieved the feat without having to turn to lockdowns.

As such, it’s little wonder why South Koreans have evidently been moved by the government’s efficient handling of the pandemic, with the Democratic party earning a landslide victory in the April elections.

Truly, it’s a fairy tale in its own right.

Though sadly, it looks to be a thing of the past now.

Everything About South Korea’s New Wave of COVID-19 Simplified for You

According to npr.org, South Korea now finds itself on the brink of yet another major outbreak, after keeping the epidemic under control for around five months.

Apparently, Covid-19 cases in the country have jumped to their highest level since March, and the capital region has had to re-enforce social distancing guidelines as a result.

As of Monday (17 August), the country witnessed four straight days of new cases in the triple digits, with a four-day accumulated total of 745 cases.

In comparison, there was a peak of around 900 cases per day back in late February, during which the epidemic was at its strongest in the nation.

As of Monday, South Korea reports a cumulative total of 15,515 cases with 305 deaths.

Yet Another Religious Group

Lest you’ve forgotten, the first peak revolved around the country’s fourth-largest city, Daegu, and a megachurch known as the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.

And while Daegu has since shed off its negative image in light of the current crisis, the religious notion has yet to be…

With another religious group, the Sarang Jeil Church, at the forefront of it this time around.

According to sources, the cluster in the Sarang Jeil Church started with one follower who attended service on 9 August and subsequently tested positive on 12 August.

Since then, authorities have procured lists of 4,000 members, quarantined 3,400 and tested 2,000, of which 312 were tested to be positive.

This came about after the pastor reportedly led thousands of worshippers, most of them elderly, in a rally against the government.

Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Director Jeong Un-kyeong has warned that virus clusters (that are linked to religious activities) are now passing through the nation “at a terrific speed”, with South Korea appearing to be in the “early stage of large-scale community outbreaks.”

He also cautioned that without efficient government intervention, South Korea “may face a health system collapse”.

Over the weekend, the capital region increased its alert to Level 2 in a three-tier system, with several countermeasures set to be implemented for the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, two police complaints were reportedly filed against the Sarang Jeil Church’s leader and pastor Jun Kwang-hoon, who allegedly hindered efforts to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The church has, however, denied that Jun had violated a self-quarantine order to spearhead large anti-government protests in central Seoul on Saturday, notwithstanding a government ban on massive gatherings during the epidemic.