Patients Sharing Hospital Room with Confirmed Case at Seoul Baek Hospital Test 'Negative'

Medical staff, hospital officials, and police are busily moving in front of Baek Hospital in Jung-gu, Seoul, which was closed due to a patient who was confirmed with COVID-19 after being hospitalized while hiding the fact that they lived in Daegu on the 9th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Patients who were in the same hospital room as a 78-year-old female patient, who was admitted to Seoul Baek Hospital while hiding the fact that she lived in Daegu and was later confirmed positive for COVID-19, tested negative in COVID-19 diagnostic tests.

According to Jung-gu Office and Baek Hospital in Seoul on the 9th, three patients who were in the same room as the confirmed patient's family tested negative for COVID-19. The 78-year-old female patient visited the gastroenterology department at Seoul Baek Hospital on the 3rd due to vomiting and abdominal discomfort and was admitted to a four-person room on the 6th floor ward, where she stayed for six days.

It is known that the patient did not truthfully disclose whether she had visited Daegu when asked by the hospital at the time of her visit. However, after discussing Daegu in the hospital room and due to suspicious findings during auscultation, a COVID-19 test was conducted on the 7th. As a result, she was finally confirmed positive on the 8th. Only then did she reveal that her actual residence was Daegu and that the associate pastor of the church she attended in Daegu had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

The Jung-gu Office disinfected the hospital emergency room, outpatient treatment areas on floors 1 to 3, the confirmed patient's hospital room, the basement first floor X-ray room, and CT room. Intensive disinfection will also be carried out in nearby areas of Baek Hospital, including restaurants, pharmacies, and shops in the Euljiro district until the 11th.