South Korea is dealing with its biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases in five months – with 279 cases reported on Sunday alone.
Many have been linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, whose 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.
Vice health minister Kim Ganglip says out of Sarang Jeil’s 4,000 churchgoers, 3,400 have been placed in quarantine and 2,000 have been screened,
According to him, of this, 312 have tested positive which he regards as a high positive rate of 16.1 per cent
There has been considerable anger against the church, with more than 200,000 people signing an online petition calling for the lead Pastor, Reverend Jun Kwang-Hoon to be detained,
The leader of the Shincheonji church, Lee Man-Hee, was arrested earlier this month.