President Moon Jae-in asked to check all events held by the Tan Thien Den sect, including a funeral at the hospital, due to fears of spreading nCoV.

"There should be a thorough inspection of attendees and funerals," Moon said during an emergency meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on February 21. The "funeral" mentioned by Mr. Moon is of a brother or brother of the founder of the Shincheonji sect (Tan Thien Dia), held at Daenam Hospital, Cheongdo District, North Gyeongsang Province.

The sect became the focus of the Covid-19 outbreak in Daegu, the fourth largest city in South Korea, after a 61-year-old female devotee spread the virus to dozens of others. She was called "31st Patient" and was hospitalized on February 8 due to a traffic accident but twice refused to test for the nCoV. She then went to Tan Thien Dia's church four times and was confirmed positive for nCoV on February 18. Tan Thien Dia is considered by her to be a heresy church

Daenam Hospital and the Tan Thien Dia cult church in Daegu recorded the most cases of nCoV infection in Korea, with nearly 60 patients this week. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) recorded at least 346 cases of nCoV and two deaths across the country as of February 21.

At an emergency meeting with President Moon yesterday, South Korean Prime Minister Chung planned to introduce the city of Daegu and the Cheongdo area of North Gyeongsang Province into a special disease control form. The list of followers of the Tan Thien Dia cult attending a ceremony in Daegu is confidential and related individuals will be isolated at home and tested.

President Moon called on the South Korean Prime Minister to take measures as quickly as possible, adding that the government should not rely solely on the information provided by the New Territories.

The Covid-19 outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has been reported in 30 countries and territories around the world, leaving 77,672 people infected and 2,360 dead. South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun yesterday acknowledged his failure to contain the Covid-19 epidemic, focusing too much on preventing sources of infection from abroad rather than domestic ones.

The city of Daegu, one of South Korea's epidemic, ordered 2.5 million people not to leave the home, close the kindergarten and postpone enlistment with the people in the city.