Daegu and Gyeongbuk, Half of Confirmed Cases Are Church-Related 'Chain Infections'... Cluster Outbreaks Also in Gumi

76 New Confirmed Cases on the 23rd (Daegu 26, Gyeongbuk 50), 39 Cases
...Ongoing n-th Infections in 4 Churches in Half of Daegu's Basic Local Governments
...Spread Across Gyeongbuk Including Gumi Songjeong Church and Andong Okdong Church

On the 14th, citizens who visited the screening clinic set up at the Gangseo-gu Public Health Center in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, to get tested after a COVID-19 cluster infection occurred at a church in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, are waiting in line. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] The spread of new coronavirus infections (COVID-19) related to churches in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions continues unabated.

In Daegu, while chain infections are concentrated in four churches, in Gumi, Gyeongbuk, 25 residents related to Songjeong Church tested positive on the 23rd, increasing the cumulative number of cases related to this church to 33 over three days.

On the 23rd, among the newly confirmed cases related to churches, 7 out of 26 in Daegu and 32 out of 50 in Gyeongbuk were confirmed. More than half of the new confirmed cases in Daegu and Gyeongbuk are related to churches.

According to Daegu City on the 24th, four additional cases were confirmed the previous day, including one member of Dong-gu Gwangjin Jungang Church, two contacts, and one visitor, bringing the total confirmed cases related to this church to 47.

Regarding Dalseong-gun Yeongsin Church, two people who developed symptoms during self-quarantine tested positive, bringing the total confirmed cases from this church to 65.

At Jung-gu Saevision Church, one person was confirmed positive after developing symptoms during self-quarantine, increasing the total to 37. Although no new cases were reported that day, at Nam-gu Shinil Church, the cumulative confirmed cases related to the church were counted as 20 until the previous day.

In Daegu, including these cases, 26 new cases were added on the 23rd, raising the cumulative confirmed cases to 7,607 as of midnight on the 24th (including 103 imported cases).

In Gyeongbuk as well, church-related chain infections are recently leading the spread. Among the 50 new confirmed cases on the 23rd, at least 32 are related to churches.

Among the 30 new confirmed cases in Gumi City on the 23rd, 25 are members and family of Songjeong Church. Among the new confirmed cases in Gyeongju City, three were related to Gyeongju Seonggwang Church.

Among the three new confirmed cases in Andong City, two were contacts of confirmed cases related to Andong Okdong Church (Andong cases 99 and 105), and among the two new confirmed cases in Gyeongsan City, one was a contact of a confirmed case related to Daegu Gwangjin Church.

As of midnight on the 24th, the cumulative confirmed cases in the Gyeongbuk region were 2,127 (including 109 imported cases), 50 more than the previous day. Since the 17th, the spread in the Gyeongbuk region has become noticeably prominent, with the daily average number of confirmed cases over the past week reaching 37.7.