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| President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting in Daegu, Tuesday./ Yonhap |
Korea reports 144 new cases, 10th death
By Kim Se-jeong
The government designated Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province as special management areas for infectious disease Tuesday, vowing to use all possible quarantine measures to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading outside them.
"The best way to stop the virus from spreading would be to seal off the affected areas completely, not physically but in terms of a quarantine," said Democratic Party of Korea spokesman Hong Ik-pyo, following a meeting with the government.
With the move, the government will mobilize the military and police to enforce quarantine efforts in the areas.
According to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 144 additional cases were confirmed with two additional death Tuesday, bring the total number of confirmed patients to 977 and 10 dead.
President Moon Jae-in visited Daegu the same day and pledged the central government's support for the city's fight against the virus. "Today, the central government has opened up all possible resources. We will do all we can do to help Daegu contain the situation."
Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun moved to Daegu and will stay there to coordinate the quarantine effort.
The ninth fatality occurred in Chilgok Kyungpook National Hospital in Daegu where she had been treated for an abdominal distension before developing symptoms of pneumonia the day before her death. Her test was later determined to be positive for the virus.
The tenth death was that of a 58-year-old male patient in Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province.
A deputy pastor at Myung Sung Church in Seoul, one of the biggest churches in Korea with 80,000 members, was among the newly confirmed patients. On Feb. 16, he led a service with 2,000 congregants present, and quarantine officials and church organizers are trying to contact those who attended, and others who came into contact with him.
The deputy pastor visited Cheongdo, North Gyeongsan Province, Feb. 14 to attend a funeral. He quarantined himself from Feb. 21 and was confirmed to be infected despite having no symptoms.
Twenty one of the 144 were disabled people living at a facility in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, leading to the possibility of that place becoming another viral hub as has Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo where more than 110 people have been confirmed to have been infected.
The authorities in Daegu and North Gyeongsan Province are continuing to look for Shincheonji Church members and those who came into contact with them. More than half of all confirmed patients here had a connection to Shincheonji.
To address a mask shortage, the government is restricting exports from today and is increasing supplies to public organizations so they can distribute them to people in need. Masks have become a scarce commodity in Korea pushing up the price exponentially on the market. For example, 100 masks were offered at an online shopping mall for 300,000 won.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it was considering importing the ebola virus medicine Avigan from Japan to treat patients in a serious condition. Avigan is not authorized in Korea yet. AIDS and malaria medications have also been mentioned as treatments.
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