Parents concerned about cram school instructor's infection
A medical worker takes a sample from a citizen for the COVID-19 test in Incheon, Wednesday, as infections related to Itaewon nightclubs have spread to the port city. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
A private academy instructor in Incheon, who tested positive for COVID-19 after a recent visit to a nightclub in Seoul's Itaewon area, is believed to have transmitted the virus, directly and indirectly, to at least 10 people as of Wednesday, according to Incheon city officials.
This is raising concerns among parents who have sent their children to private cram schools.
The 10 patients include five high school students who attended the academy, in addition to one of the academy's instructors.
Two teenage siblings who were privately tutored by the instructor were confirmed to have COVID-19, while their mother and another teacher privately tutoring them have also contracted the virus.
Municipal authorities in Incheon are on high alert as the number of infections linked to the 24-year-old instructor could rise further, given that he has taught students at the private education institute and students' homes in the port city.
“The Incheon City Government advised private education institutes to suspend operations for a week as students attending the academy in question could possibly have met others in other institutions,” Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun said.
The mayor added that the city government will file a criminal complaint against the instructor for lying about his occupation during the quarantine officials' initial epidemiological investigations.
The man told the officials he has no occupation, though he has been teaching young students. This has resulted in the group infections, officials claimed, adding that they are now working to find out whether the man has worked or taught students anywhere else.
The instructor tested positive, May 9, after having visited King Club in Itaewon from the night of May 2 to the early hours of May 3.
King Club is one of the establishments in Itaewon visited by the 29-year-old Korean patient who is believed to be at the center of the new wave of infections spreading across the country. The new infections have come after the spread of the coronavirus in Korea was showing clear signs of a slowdown.
A mother of a middle school student in Incheon wrote on a Naver blog, “The instructor should have taken time off if he had learned about the news of increasing infections linked to Itaewon nightclubs.”
Other than Incheon, COVID-19 infections linked to Itaewon nightclubs have occurred in various parts of the country, including Busan and Gangwon Province.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), eight more COVID-19 infections linked to the nightclubs were reported as of 12 p.m., bringing the total number of related cases to 119.
Of the 119 patients, 76 visited the nightclubs, and the remaining 43 were either family members or acquaintances.
The KCDC added it had detected 26 new cases, Tuesday, which brought the nation's total infections to 10,962.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said a total of 158 teachers and school personnel including 53 foreign teachers reported to the authorities that they had recently visited Itaewon, Nonhyeon-dong and Sinchon ― areas that were visited by those infected with the virus.
Among those, 14 visited entertainment facilities, the office said, adding that none of them tested positive.