After COVID-19 Diagnosis, Fleeing and Disappearing... "We Will Track Until the End"

Fled After Testing Positive, Caught at Sauna
Taxi Driver Hands Over Suspect to Police
Apprehended After Escape, Sentenced to 1 Year Imprisonment

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Incidents of individuals fleeing after being diagnosed with COVID-19 without receiving treatment are occurring repeatedly. Those who engage in such acts ultimately fail to evade tracking.

According to the police on the 16th, the Dongdaemun Police Station in Seoul received a report on the 13th at 5:14 PM from the Jungnang-gu Public Health Center that they were unable to contact Mr. A, who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Upon receiving the report, the police tracked Mr. A through his mobile phone location. After roughly determining his route and searching the surrounding area, the police eventually apprehended Mr. A about six hours later at a sauna in Cheongnyangni-dong.

Mr. B (58), who fled while being transferred from Chungbuk to Seoul after testing positive, was also eventually caught by the police. On December 20 of last year, he escaped by taxi immediately after being transferred to the National Mental Health Center in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, wearing a patient gown from Eumseong Somang Hospital. He was found near Cheongju in Chungbuk. A suspicious taxi driver handed Mr. B over to the police.

Additionally, on September 24 of last year, Mr. C, a confirmed congregant of Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, who escaped from the hospital where he was receiving COVID-19 treatment and wandered around Seoul, was ultimately arrested. The congregant was hospitalized in an isolation ward at Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center Paju Hospital but secretly left the hospital, arrived in Seoul, and roamed around Jongno-gu and Seodaemun-gu. He was caught by the police at a cafe in Sinchon, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 25 hours after his escape.

Cases of being caught after fleeing and receiving legal punishment are also emerging. Mr. D, a Sarang Jeil Church congregant who refused treatment despite testing positive for COVID-19, fled and assaulted police officers, was prosecuted for violating the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act and sentenced to one year in prison.

Mr. D had visited Sarang Jeil Church and come into contact with a confirmed case, and was diagnosed positive on August 17 of last year. However, he refused hospital transfer, escaped from home, and was arrested and prosecuted for biting responding police officers and medical staff and forcibly removing their masks.