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A medical professional is at the National Medical Center’s testing facility where patients suspected of contracting coronavirus are assessed in Seoul, South Korea, on February 24, 2020.

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Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

A senior health official in South Korea who is responsible for leading efforts against the coronavirus outbreak admitted to being a member of a doomsday church “cult” after contracting the virus.

The delay forced authorities to quarantine another 50 health officials at a time when medical resources are already stretched thin.

A police officer and an elementary school teacher also revealed that they believe in the Shincheonji Church of Jesus after being diagnosed with coronavirus.

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A senior health official in Daegu – the city that lies at the center of South Korea’s coronavirus outbreak – confessed to being a follower of a controversial doomsday church cult after testing positive for the virus.

The unnamed official leads the Infection Preventive Medicine Department in the city that is home to 681 of the 833 COVID-19 cases in the country, the South China Morning Post reported. Over 450 of those Daegu residents have been found to be members of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, a fringe religious sect that belongs to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.