‘Coronavirus is spreading locally’ in Korea, says health exec

Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

SEOUL — South Korea’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak entered a new phase of local transmission, with the southern city of Daegu becoming a hot bed of COVID-19 infections with nearly 40 new cases reported in the city within just two days.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the total number of people infected with the pathogen here stood at 82, with 49 of them in Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province. Most of the cases have been traced to a church in the city that a 61-year-old woman, confirmed as the country’s 31st patient on Tuesday, had attended.

Vice Health and Welfare Minister Kim Kang-lip said the country is confronting a new situation that requires a different response.

“At this stage, (the government) judged that COVID-19, which has been flowing in from overseas, is spreading locally with a limited scope,” Kim said.

He added that cases where the route of infection is unclear are emerging in Daegu and the capital Seoul.

Community transmission means a generation of cases with difficulty in grasping the epidemiological link in the community beyond confirmed cases stem from those who returned from abroad and the secondary infection who contacted with the people who found to have contracted the virus.

Given the situation, the government is adjusting strategies to prevent the virus’ spread to a wider public, the official said, which includes raising the infectious disease alert level to the highest. Korea is currently at the third-highest readiness level in the four-tier system.

Fears ran rampant in the southern city of Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang Province, where 49 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

A total of 31 people were found to have contracted COVID-19 here on Wednesday, pushing outstanding cases to 82, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President Moon Jae-in vowed to mobilize all available resources to the virus-stricken Daegu during a phone conversation with Mayor Kwon Young-jin. The central government plans to send medical professionals and facilities to help the city deal with snowballing cases.

Among the new cases, 39 people are linked with the Sincheonji Church of Jesus, a Christian sect to which the 61-year-old woman, who tested positive Tuesday, belongs. The woman is considered to be a potential “super-spreader.”

KCDC Director Jung Eun-kyeong said 1,001 church members who attended services with the woman are now in self-isolation at home.

In a phone survey conducted by health authorities, 90 church members answered to having symptoms so far, although 396 people could not be reached.

On Thursday, the government started to check those who showed suspicious symptoms for the novel virus regardless of their overseas travel history, in a bid for early detection.

Among Thursday’s newly confirmed patients in Daegu, two are found to be teachers at an art institute and child care center. Their workplaces were shut down and colleagues were told to self-isolate.

In Seoul, a 74-year-old man received a positive result late Wednesday from a local community health center he visited for showing symptoms of pneumonia.

South Korea is now one of the countries that has reported the highest tallies outside mainland China, along with Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.