[Namwon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Young-gwon] As of the 25th, Namwon City in Jeonbuk has actively responded to COVID-19 through accurate epidemiological investigations and appropriate treatment system classification, with a total of 25,257 confirmed cases, making every effort to prevent infectious diseases.
According to the city on the 27th, led by Ihwanju, head of the Namwon City Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, a rapid infectious disease response support and work collaboration system has been established, and regular briefings have delivered the latest information and clear messages to citizens to prevent regional spread.
The reliability of the public quarantine system has been enhanced. Let's look at the achievements of Namwon City's COVID-19 infectious disease response over the past two years.
The city installed a screening clinic on January 27, 2020, mobilizing more than 100 staff members to operate the clinic daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
From February 3 until the 10th of last month, city hall staff also cooperated to install and operate a rapid antigen testing line, and to ensure vulnerable groups were not excluded from infectious disease protection, a mobile specimen collection team was deployed to visit and collect samples from confirmed patients with mobility difficulties who had no means of transportation.
As a result of operating the screening clinic, as of the 23rd, 218,905 PCR tests and 22,601 rapid antigen tests were conducted.
As COVID-19 cases surged nationwide, the city expanded and reorganized the epidemiological investigation teams to trace infection routes and contacts, restructuring the quarantine system.
The in-depth epidemiological investigation team, which started with 10 teams in November 2020, has now expanded to 38 teams with 200 members.
With the increase in confirmed cases and close contacts, the city formed a dedicated self-quarantine team and introduced a system to designate and operate self-quarantine managers.
Accordingly, by assigning one-on-one dedicated public officials and installing safety protection apps, temperature measurement and health status monitoring were smoothly conducted, enabling rapid response to prevent self-quarantine violations.
In particular, for self-quarantined individuals, 10 teams organized in pairs delivered app installation assistance and quarantine kits directly, as well as provided education on quarantine rules to prevent additional contacts.
In this way, 6,602 self-quarantined individuals (close contacts and overseas entrants) were managed.
Additionally, the city formed a COVID-19 vaccination promotion team in February last year to prepare the quarantine system in advance, and from April 1 to October 31, operated the Chunhyanggol Vaccination Center for about seven months, striving to increase citizens' herd immunity against COVID-19.
Thanks to the city's prompt response and active participation of citizens, 20,271 eligible individuals safely received vaccinations a total of 38,272 times.
The third-dose vaccination rate for high-risk groups aged 60 and over reached a high 97.5%, and the fourth-dose vaccination rate in Namwon was 38.4%, compared to the national average of 26.8%.
A city official said, “We thank the staff and various related agencies who have actively worked on the long-term COVID-19 infectious disease response,” and added, “We want to express special gratitude to small business owners and citizens who cooperated with quarantine work despite difficult socio-economic circumstances.”
Namwon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Young-gwon wjddudrnjs@asiae.co.kr
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