Mainstream Christian groups in South Korea have sought action against a neo-Christian sect accused of spreading the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of 54 people in the country.

When the virus began to spread in mid-February, authorities traced the infection to people who attended crowded prayer programs of a sect called Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the Daegu area.

Two mainstream Church groups — the National Council of Churches in Korea and the United Christian Churches of Korea — have asked the government to investigate leaders of the Shincheonji Church.

“The government should clarify facts about the spread of the infectious disease, arrest Shincheonji leader Lee Manhee and other leaders and investigate their actions,” they said in a joint statement on March 6.

The Protestant groups alleged that the secretive doomsday cult had been intentionally withdrawing information about its 200,000 followers, resulting in the spread of the infection.

According to South Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Shincheonji followers accounted for almost 60 percent of 7,513 cases in the country, most centered in Daegu, the base of the controversial sect.

The death toll had reached 54 on March 10, the government body said.

The Protestant groups said the Shincheonji sect is trying to buy more time to manipulate its list of followers.

“The majority of Shincheonji believers are not only the victims of this incident but also the victims of faith, which is a cult and fundamentally fake,” the groups said.