5 More Confirmed Cases Including Those Related to Bitnaeri Church in Gwangju... Regional Total Reaches 1,500

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Five additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, including three related to Gwangju Bitnaeri Church where 15 people tested positive in one day, were registered in the Gwangju area.

According to Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 24th, as of 2 p.m. on that day, five people were confirmed positive and classified as cases 1496 to 1500.

Cases 1496, 1498, and 1500 are related to Bitnaeri Church.

Case 1497 was confirmed to be related to Jeonbuk case 1011, a worker at Sunchang Nursing Hospital who tested positive the previous day.

One confirmed case (1499) with an unknown infection route also occurred.

The total number of confirmed cases related to Bitnaeri Church in Shinyong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, is 18, including 3 cases reported on this day and 15 cases from the previous day.

On the 23rd, a citizen who had COVID-like symptoms was tested at a screening clinic set up by Gwangju City Hall and was confirmed positive, registered as case 1479.

During the epidemiological investigation of case 1479, it was confirmed that the individual was a church member, and tests were conducted on 30 close contacts centered around the church.

As a result, including case 1479 classified as the index patient, 18 tested positive and 5 tested negative. The remaining 7 are still undergoing testing.

Additionally, on the morning of the same day, close contact was confirmed at a daycare center and kindergarten near Bitnaeri Church, and a full inspection was conducted on 137 staff and children.

The church has been closed, and the city, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, local districts, and the Infectious Disease Control Support Group are conducting in-depth investigations on site.

So far, according to the quarantine authorities, there appears to be no violation of quarantine rules related to worship at Bitnaeri Church.

Bitnaeri Church uses the second floor space of a three-story building, while homeschooling is conducted at TCS Ace International School on the first floor. The quarantine authorities explained that infection likely spread due to the fact that they lived together on the third floor of the same building.