South Korea is on the brink of a new nationwide Covid-19 outbreak, according to BBC.

A fresh wave of coronavirus infections that started in a right-wing Presbyterian church has spread to all 17 provinces throughout the country for the first time, a development that has left authorities deeply concerned for the worst.

The church, Sarang Jeil Church, roughly translates to "Love Comes First".

Its members congregated en masse against advisories to stay away and apart, and are now hampering contact tracing efforts.

Triple digits: New cases each day

The virus total registered each day recently has been in the triple digits.

The government is considering whether to close schools and businesses in response as a practical, but morale-weakening measure.

Infectious diseases experts are warning that hospital beds are filling up fast with the medical system hitting limits.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) acknowledged that about 20 per cent of all new cases are of unknown origin.

This is despite the country's contact tracing system that can track down around 1,000 potentially infected persons in an hour.

First wave spooked country

South Korea fought the first round against Covid-19 in February following an outbreak at a Christian cult called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the city of Daegu, some 200km south of Seoul.

The outbreak was under control within weeks.

New cases from another religious organisation

The majority of new cases are packed in the capital city with more than 10 million people.

The problem now is that many of the far-right worshippers are refusing to be contacted, let alone tested, even though they are potentially infected.

They believe the virus was planted as part of a conspiracy to close the sect down.

Other members claimed the outbreak had been spread by tainted bottles of hand sanitiser.

The controversial Pastor Jun Kwang-hoon issued a statement on YouTube claiming that he had "five different tip-offs" that there was a virus terror that sneaked through the Sarang Jeil Church.

Members of the Shincheonji church, where the first outbreak took place, are mostly young in their 20s.

This time round, Covid-19 is affecting the elderly in this second religious group.

Conspiracy theories hampering contact tracing efforts

Conspiracy theories are rife within this group whose members are right-wing conservatives and believe that President Moon Jae In is a communist and a puppet of China and North Korea.

Before the pandemic, hundreds of members would gather in the centre of Seoul on Saturdays loudly rallying and marching past the Blue House to denounce the South Korean leader.

Massive rally spread Covid-19 infection

On Aug. 15, with the virus still latent in the country, church members took part in a huge rally in the centre of Seoul along with tens of thousands of others.

About 200 people tested Covid-19 positive after the rally.

Among those infected were seven police officers who were at the rally to maintain order.

The government asked but did not get a full list of names of rally attendees from the church.

The police then raided the church.

The worst case scenario is that the rally alone could have infected more than 2,000 people.

In total, more than 875 members have so far tested positive, but authorities believe there could be hundreds more.

Maintain social distancing, South Koreans told

KCDC director Jeong Eun-kyeong has said that the peak of this outbreak has yet to come.

She pleaded: "Please stay home and wear a mask if you do go out. Please join us in this social distancing campaign once again so that we can continue educating our students, supporting our local economy, and preventing the medical system from collapsing. And so that we keep our patients away from danger."

In total, 309 people have died in South Korea as a result of Covid-19, one of the lowest death tolls in the world.

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Top photo via Yonhap