Five Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Related to Entertainment Venues in Gwangju... Concerns Over Further Spread

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Five new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Gwangju in one day. All were confirmed as community infections.

Since the 3rd, four so-called ‘hidden patients’ with unknown infection routes have emerged, raising concerns about silent community transmission, prompting health authorities to issue an alert.

According to Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 15th, the five confirmed cases?four women in their 20s and one man in his 40s?were all confirmed to have had contact with case number 221. They were classified as cases 223 to 227.

Case 221 was infected through contact with case 217. The initial infection route of case 217 is currently unknown.

The total number of confirmed cases related to the entertainment bar is seven: cases 217, 221, and 223 to 227.

Case 217, a man in his 40s residing in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, showed symptoms of sore throat and headache on the 12th and tested positive for COVID-19.

Gwangju City conducted tests on contacts of case 217; case 221 was confirmed positive the previous day, followed by five additional cases (223 to 227) confirmed on the same day.

Among these seven cases, cases 217, 221, and 226 were customers of the entertainment bar, while cases 223, 224, 225, and 227 were entertainment workers.

The entertainment workers were found to have visited not only the said entertainment bar but also other entertainment bars, prompting Gwangju City to conduct further epidemiological investigations.

Gwangju City immediately closed the entertainment bar where the cluster infection occurred and another entertainment bar visited by case 221 under the ‘Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act.’

Additional closures will be implemented for other entertainment bars visited by confirmed entertainment workers as they are identified.

Furthermore, if it is confirmed that these entertainment bars did not comply with quarantine rules such as operating electronic entry logs and indoor mask-wearing, they will be subject to prosecution, and claims for damages will be actively considered.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop of Gwangju said in an emergency briefing, “As the recent local spread of COVID-19 has slowed, more citizens are neglecting quarantine rules such as wearing masks in various places. Especially with the full-scale summer vacation season, as activity ranges widen and contact frequency between people increases, the sense of crisis is rising again.”

He added, “If we become complacent even a little, COVID-19 can spread again at any time. I earnestly ask all citizens to strictly follow quarantine rules such as wearing masks and avoiding close contact anytime and anywhere.”

Meanwhile, as local infections are spreading mainly in the metropolitan area recently, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters will raise the ‘social distancing’ level to 2 in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province starting at midnight on the 16th.