South Korea is dealing with its biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases in five months – with 279 cases reported on Sunday only .
Many have been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, where a pastor has been a vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in.
Another church, the Shincheonji Church of Jesus was identified earlier this year as South Korea’s biggest virus cluster.
The controversial group was found to be linked to more than 5,200 cases.
South Korea reported 279 new virus cases on Sunday – the first time since March that new daily infections had surpassed 200.
That brought the country’s total number of cases to 15,318.
At least 193 of the new cases have been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, according to the Seoul metropolitan government.
President Moon has warned that this figure could increase, as health officials rush to test all 4,066 of the church’s members.
He said the outbreak posed the biggest challenge to combat the virus since the cluster linked to the Shincheonji Church.
The leader of the Shincheonji Church, Lee Man-hee, was arrested earlier this month.
He is accused of hiding information about the group’s members and gatherings from contact tracers.
The church has said he was concerned for members’ safety but never hid information.
Bbc
