Seoul seeks murder charges against sect founder over Covid-19

Government officials close down a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which has emerged as the biggest cluster of infections of a new virus in the country, in Gwangju, South Korea, on Feb 27, 2020.

SEOUL (AFP): Seoul's city government has asked prosecutors to press charges, including murder, against the founder of a secretive religious sect for failing to cooperate in containing the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

South Korea has seen a surge in the number of infections -- adding more than 4,000 cases in less than two weeks -- with around 60 per cent of the national total linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.