Police on Sunday vowed to sternly deal with misinformation and actions obstructing the country’s efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, as fears of a second, deadlier wave grow.

In a public statement, the Korean National Police Agency announced it will “thoroughly investigate any attempt to undermine the social trust and threaten the health and safety of citizens.”

Since the virus arrived here in January through Thursday, police have arrested a total 202 people in 127 cases for spreading false information or leaking sensitive private information.

During the initial COVID-19 outbreak, such acts mostly pertained to individual confirmed patients’ personal data and transmission routes, but now “fake news” and misinformation erode the government’s virus prevention measures, the agency said.

False information, rumors and conspiracy theories saying that the current administration is using the coronavirus to conduct a witch hunt against its opponents have challenged the country’s much-praised “3T” strategy of trace, test and treat, with extreme cases reported nationwide of potential virus carriers refusing to get tested, confirmed patients denying their diagnoses and some refusing to cooperate with contact tracing.

A number of YouTube channels carry clips that claim that the government is fabricating test results to inflate the number of infections linked to the Sarang Jeil Church, led by a far-right pastor and vocal critic of President Moon Jae-in, who also led the Aug. 15 anti-government rally.

A purported recording of a phone conversation between a person and an official at a public center in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, posted on several YouTube channels throughout the week claimed that that person who tested positive for COVID-19 at the public health center later tested negative at a private hospital.

Three videos sharing the recording had more than 536,000 combined views by 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Police on Friday raided the Sarang Jeil Church after two failed attempts by the city of Seoul and health authority officials to secure data on its membership, as well as that of the Aug. 15 rally.

So far, 841 people affiliated with the church have been diagnosed with COVID-19, some of whom attended the rally, defying self-isolation orders, including the church’s pastor himself. A virus breakout among the church’s members was first detected on Aug. 12.

A number of local police agencies on Sunday also searched the homes, offices and churches of pastors suspected of taking their church members to the Aug. 15 rally, after repeated calls for their cooperation to identify those who might have been exposed to the virus were not heeded.

The Seoul city government said it is working to have all listed participants tested for the coronavirus, while it reviews testing members of the Sarang Jeil Church identified on another list of the congregation it obtained from the raid.

The toughened stance by police comes after President Moon last week urged public officials to use “all means at its disposal” to counter those using physical force and misinformation to disturb the government’s efforts.

“If necessary, strictly execute the law by taking (offenders) into custody on site and filing for arrest warrants,” Moon said, adding that the government should show the public that government authority is firmly in place.

Also on Friday, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae vowed to have anyone intentionally disturbing the government’s quarantine efforts arrested upon investigation and given the highest level of penalization possible.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)