Police said Saturday they are analyzing materials seized from a raid on a controversial Seoul church at the center of the latest coronavirus outbreak in the capital area in order to secure a full list of church members for quarantine purposes.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, police officers raided Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul for over four hours Friday night on charges of violating the infectious disease prevention law.

The raid came as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases traced to the church surged to 723 as of Friday. Pastor Jun Kwang-hoon of the church, who was diagnosed with the coronavirus earlier this week, took part in a massive anti-government rally attended by approximately 20,000 people at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul last Saturday.

The church voluntarily presented a list of 900 members Thursday, but some insiders told police the actual size of the church's congregation is in the range of 2,000 to 3,000.

"We're looking into the confiscated items. Data related to church members that was stored in the church PCs will be analyzed through digital forensics," a police official said.

"If necessary, the list submitted from the church will be compared to data secured from the raid. Results of the ongoing data analysis will be provided to quarantine authorities in case such a request is made," the official said. (Yonhap)