Yeosu-si Urges Caution Against Norovirus Infection During Winter Season

Concentrated Occurrence from December to February... Strict Personal Hygiene and Food Management

Yeosu City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Jeong Gi-myeong) recently urged active preventive management in response to the nationwide increase in norovirus infections.

'Norovirus' is an intestinal virus that causes food poisoning when ingested through contaminated water or food. It can survive even at minus 20°C, leading to concentrated outbreaks from December to January and February during the winter season.

[Image provided by Yeosu City]

In fact, over the past five years, the average number of norovirus food poisoning cases in the second week of January has been 360, showing an increasing trend from December during the winter season.

When infected with norovirus, symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea appear within 1 to 2 days, along with abdominal pain, chills, and fever. If infection is suspected, it is important to visit a medical institution immediately for diagnosis and treatment, and to be careful to prevent the virus from spreading through direct or indirect contact with others.

A city official stated, "Since food poisoning caused by norovirus increases during this season, please thoroughly practice personal hygiene such as hand washing, eat seafood like oysters cooked whenever possible, and follow food poisoning prevention guidelines. In particular, we ask social welfare facilities, multi-use facilities, group cafeterias, and restaurants to pay more careful attention to hygiene management."

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr