[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] A cluster of COVID-19 cases has emerged in a village based around a religious facility in the Cheonan area of Chungnam Province.
According to Cheonan City on the 23rd, after one person tested positive for COVID-19 on the 21st in a village in Gwangdeok-myeon, diagnostic tests were conducted on 321 people, of whom 232 (including one from Asan) have so far tested positive.
Accordingly, the city has set up a mobile screening clinic in the village and is conducting comprehensive COVID-19 testing on the remaining 106 residents who have not yet been tested out of a total of 427 residents.
The religious facility in the village has been ordered to suspend worship services and has been urgently closed.
A significant number of the confirmed cases were unvaccinated, and most of the infected individuals are unemployed and living within the village without outside activities.
Health authorities believe this cluster infection spread through worship services, use of senior facilities, and communal living activities such as kimchi-making based on the village’s religious facility. It was recently revealed that about 70 people made kimchi together.
The health authorities plan to classify confirmed cases by age and condition and sequentially transfer them to infectious disease-dedicated hospitals and residential treatment centers. Additionally, asymptomatic or mild patients under 70 years old will be managed through home treatment.
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