Greetings,
fellow citizens. We are Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
We
deeply regret that many Shincheonji believers and citizens have been infected
with “COVID-19,” which has caused great concern to the public. Shincheonji
Church of Jesus is cooperating with health authorities through all means to
prevent the spread of “COVID-19.”
Shincheonji
Church of Jesus has announced to all 245,000 Shincheonji believers - including
9,294 believers in Shincheonji’s Daegu Church and 201 recent visiting believers
to the Daegu church - to refrain from outside activities.
Shincheonji
Church of Jesus provided an initial list of church members who had all gathered
in one place for evening worship service to the Daegu Metropolitan Government following
confirmation of "Patient 31" on the 18th, and also provided the final
list to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) on the 19th,
at 6am. In response to the additional confirmed cases, the Korea Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) requested a full list of all believers at
Daegu church on the evening of the 19th, which Shincheonji Church provided on the
20th.
Currently,
9,294 believers in Shincheonji’s Daegu Church have been quarantined, and all
believers in Shincheonji Church have been examined for “COVID-19.” Since the
18th, all church activities including meetings, worship services and evangelism
has ceased. Shincheonji Church has been checking up on believers who exhibit symptoms
similar to “COVID-19” and is closely communicating with the Korea Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Moreover,
as of the 18th of February, Shincheonji Church closed 1,100 churches and affiliated
institutions throughout Korea when the first patient was confirmed in the Daegu
church, enforced disinfection measures up until the 21st, released the current disinfection
and prevention status, and provided the Korea Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (KCDC) with the addresses of all churches and affiliated
institutions on the 22nd. This was disclosed on the official website of
Shincheonji Church for all citizens to verify for themselves.
Moreover,
Shincheonji Church identified 201 believers who had visited Daegu church from the
end of January to February 18th, instructed them to be isolated, go into
quarantine and inform their health center, and also provided a list to the
Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), Seoul Metropolitan
Government (Gyeonggi Province) and other local governments.
According
to data published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC)
at 9am today, 309 of all 556 “COVID-19” patients are affiliated to Shincheonji
Church of Jesus. In order to minimize infection spread to the community,
Shincheonji Church has been closely communicating and engaging with the Korea
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) by checking symptoms of all believers
of the Daegu church and those who had visited the church in person.
Furthermore, together with health
authorities, we continually contacted 670 unresponsive members of Shincheonji
Daegu Church - 417 of whom were examined and 253 previously unreachable because
of long-term absence contacted through all means possible.
Shincheonji Church of Jesus is now making
every effort to work together with the government and public health authorities
to prevent the spread of “COVID-19” and is responding with full force in every
way. Since early January and in order to protect believers, the General Assembly
Headquarters of Shincheonji Church issued four official mandates ordering all 74
churches nationwide to ban visitors to and from China, those in close proximity
to visitors from China, and contact with people with fever or cough-like
symptoms, and has banned all gatherings since the 18th of February.
Shincheonji Church of Jesus is fully
informed of, and responding to, the public’s concern about "COVID-19" but
it cannot help but be concerned about the deliberate and continual slanderous
reports that "Shincheonji Church is intentionally concealing this
situation."
Shincheonji Church of Jesus is in close
communication with health authorities and is committed to seeing an early end
to this crisis. Please stop the speculative and unconfirmed malicious reports about
Shincheonji Church.
In order to bring an early end to this
situation, the entire list of believers of Daegu Church has been handed over to
health authorities, but this list has been leaked and unlawful things have
happened to believers of Shincheonji Church including forced leave,
discrimination, insult and even pressure to quit their works.
Believers of Shincheonji Church are Korean
citizens who have been living their daily lives following disinfection measures
imposed by the authorities, and are now victims of "COVID-19".
"COVID-19" is a disease that
originated in China and has spread to South Korea. We sincerely ask the public
to be aware that Shincheonji Church of Jesus and its believers are the biggest
victims of "COVID-19" and to refrain from any hateful or groundless
accusations against believers of Shincheonji Church.
The current situation must be resolved in
cooperation with the government and all citizens, including Shincheonji Church
of Jesus. Once again, Shincheonji Church will cooperate with all our might to
bring a swift end to this crisis. We also urge you once again to take this
opportunity to actively cooperate with the authorities.
We hope that this situation winds down as
soon as possible and we wish patients a speedy recovery.
Thank you.
