Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Science and ICT, and KDCA Join Forces... "Analyze Confirmed Cases' Movement Within 10 Minutes"

COVID-19 Epidemiological Investigation Support System to Operate from Tomorrow
Automation of Investigation Procedures... Collecting Information Quickly and Accurately
Epidemiological Analysis Taking Over a Day... Completed Within 10 Minutes

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 25th that it will officially operate the COVID-19 epidemiological investigation support system from the 26th, in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

The COVID-19 epidemiological investigation support system automates the epidemiological investigation process and utilizes smart city research and development technologies that collect and process large-scale urban data.

The system began pilot operation on the 16th and has since improved its operational framework and personal information management procedures. From the 26th, the system will be transferred from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and a cooperative framework will be established among the National Police Agency, the Credit Finance Association, three telecommunications companies, and 22 credit card companies for full-scale operation.

Through this system, real-time analysis of big data becomes possible, enabling automatic identification of confirmed patients' movement routes and locations by time period. It also allows for various statistical analyses, such as analyzing large-scale outbreak areas to identify infection sources within regions.

Previously, 28 institutions supporting the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency had to perform tasks via official documents or phone calls each time information was collected and analyzed, causing inconvenience. However, using this system allows for faster and more accurate information collection and analysis.

As a result, the epidemiological investigation analysis time, which previously took more than a day on average to derive movement routes in the early stages of the COVID-19 situation, is expected to be reduced to within 10 minutes, thereby reducing the workload of epidemiological investigators.

System and information access is allowed only to the minimum necessary personnel, with strict role-based permissions. Viewing and analyzing information is limited to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and local government epidemiological investigators; other government agencies have no access or utilization rights.

To prevent hacking and other cyberattacks, the system operates on a dedicated network that restricts external access and applies cybersecurity technologies such as dual firewalls and strict login management.

The system is operated temporarily considering the infectious disease crisis response stage, and personal information will be destroyed immediately once the COVID-19 situation ends.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will continue to strengthen collaboration to support infectious disease epidemiological investigations.

Minister Kim Hyunmi of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport emphasized, "We will promote policies to ensure that smart city technologies can be applied to areas that the public truly needs, as demonstrated by this system development case." Director Jeong Eunkyung of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency stated, "We will efficiently utilize the epidemiological investigation support system built through inter-ministerial cooperation to enable rapid and accurate epidemiological investigations, while also ensuring thorough personal information management."