Bangdaebon "One Year of COVID-19, Half of Confirmed Cases Are Cluster Infections in Religious Facilities and Others"

High Proportion of Religious Facilities and Nursing Hospitals

On the 21st, market merchants are undergoing COVID-19 diagnostic tests at a temporary walk-in screening clinic set up in Namdaemun Market, Jung-gu, Seoul. Jung-gu explained, "Since it is difficult for merchants to leave their shops during business hours due to sales and other operations, we collaborated with Seoul City to establish a testing site inside the market for merchants who cannot visit screening clinics." Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] About half of the confirmed domestic cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) over the past year were confirmed through cluster infections.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) on the 21st, since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Korea, a total of 73,115 cumulative confirmed cases have been reported over the past year until the 19th. Among them, 33,223 cases, accounting for 45.4%, were infected through cluster outbreaks, followed by 20,157 cases (27.6%) through contact with confirmed patients.

Among the major facilities related to cluster outbreaks, religious facilities accounted for the highest proportion. Infections through religious facilities numbered 5,791, making up 17% of all cluster outbreaks. Additionally, ▲Shincheonji 5,214 ▲nursing facilities 4,271 ▲workplaces 3,817 ▲family and acquaintances gatherings 3,470 also showed high numbers. Among multi-use facilities, indoor and outdoor sports and leisure facilities, academies and private tutoring centers, restaurants and cafes, multi-level marketing sales facilities, entertainment venues, and other places where people gather densely and have close contact, and where continuous mask-wearing is difficult, were included.

Im Sook-young, the Situation General Manager of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said at the regular briefing that "Among the major cluster outbreak facilities, indoor sports facilities, academies, and multi-level marketing sales facilities resumed operations in the metropolitan area starting last Monday," adding, "The reopening was a measure to support small business owners who are facing great difficulties in their livelihoods, and it does not mean that the third wave has definitely reached a stable phase."

She further requested, "We ask business owners and users of these facilities to strictly follow quarantine rules such as limiting the number of entrants, wearing masks at all times, and prohibiting food consumption."

In addition, the CDCH reported that from the 8th to the 14th, a week-long proactive testing was conducted on 12,363 facilities, accounting for 95.3% of all infection-vulnerable facilities such as nursing hospitals, and 25 confirmed cases were identified in 21 facilities.