'74 Contacts' Third Wuhan Pneumonia Patient, "Did Not Visit Ilsan Starfield"

Domestic Health Authorities "Confirm Patient's Mobile Phone GPS and Card Usage History"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Amid confirmation that 74 people have come into contact with the third confirmed case of Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus) in South Korea, it has been confirmed that the complex shopping mall 'Starfield Goyang' located in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, was not visited.

Jung Eun-kyung, Director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated, "After checking the GPS (Global Positioning System) on the third confirmed patient's mobile phone and card usage history, it was found that Starfield Goyang was not visited."

The third confirmed Wuhan pneumonia patient A (male, 54), residing in Wuhan City, China, temporarily returned to Korea on the 20th for the Lunar New Year holiday and visited restaurants and hotels in the Gangnam area of Seoul and Ilsan area of Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province for five days.

On the afternoon of the 24th, the day before reporting, Mr. A used restaurants and cafes in Ilsan and stayed at his mother's residence in Ilsan in the evening. On the 25th, he did not go out from his mother's residence and reported to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after which he was transported by a public health center ambulance to Myongji Hospital in Ilsan and quarantined.

Because of this, posts expressing anxiety have been continuously posted on mom cafes in Ilsan. Some mom cafes raised suspicions that Mr. A had visited Starfield Goyang, a large shopping mall in the area. On a mom cafe with 310,000 members, posts estimating the address of Mr. A's mother's apartment were also uploaded.

Director Jung said, "After directly confirming with the patient himself, it was found that he did not visit the shopping mall," and added, "The patient initially thought he had a common cold and did not consider the possibility of Wuhan pneumonia, but reported after developing a cough."

She continued, "There are places the third confirmed patient visited that were closed during the holiday period, so further investigation is currently underway," and said, "The medical institutions and hotels visited by the patient have completed disinfection measures, and contacts are currently being identified."