COVID-19 Central Disease Control Headquarters Regular Briefing
Connection Chains Not Blocked at Geumyang Building, Gwangneuksa, Ilgok Central Church, etc.
As a new cluster infection source has emerged from a badminton club in Gwangju, the Jeonnam National University Sports Center, where the badminton club was confirmed to have held a competition match on the morning of the 13th, is closed.[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases related to door-to-door sales in the Gwangju area has increased by 5, bringing the total number of patients to 140.
According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 13th, as of noon that day, one person at Ilgok Jungang Church in Gwangju and two people each related to a badminton club and a mobile phone store were newly confirmed positive. Since the first patient was identified at Gwangnyeoksa Temple, a temple in the Gwangju area, on the 27th of last month, about 17 days have passed, and small-scale cluster infections have been steadily spreading.
The cluster related to Geumyang Building, suspected to be connected to multi-level marketing, has 26 cases, and the infections have spread to a total of 12 clusters including Ilgok Jungang Church (21 cases), Gwangju Sarang Church (17 cases), and Gwangnyeoksa Temple (14 cases). These clusters span various places such as nursing homes, saunas, hospitals, private academies for civil service exams, and indoor sports facilities, and the quarantine authorities are focusing on breaking the links.
After a dialysis patient at Sunae Clinic in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province was confirmed positive on the 10th, two more dialysis patients and two confirmed cases from the same clinic were additionally confirmed. Two family members living in Yeongtong District, Suwon, were confirmed positive on the 11th, and among them, one worked as a childcare helper in a household where four more cases were confirmed. Among these, two confirmed cases are daycare children, and tests are being conducted on staff and children at the daycare center.
Among the imported cases, the majority are from Asian countries. As of midnight that day, 43 patients were estimated to have been imported from overseas, with 18 detected at quarantine and 25 confirmed in the local community. By region, there were 16 from the Philippines, 9 from Uzbekistan, 3 from Kazakhstan, and 1 each from Bangladesh, India, and Japan. Seven cases were confirmed from the Americas and four from Europe.
Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said at a briefing that "Looking at the infection routes over the past two weeks, 42.7% were imported cases, and 35.5% were domestic cluster outbreaks, showing an increase in the proportion of imported cases. Domestic cluster outbreaks are continuously occurring sporadically, centered on door-to-door sales, religious facilities, social gatherings, multi-use facilities, nursing facilities, and educational facilities in the Chungcheong and Honam regions."
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