Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Gov't maintains high alert on rise of virus cases in metropolitan area
Quarantine officials disinfect areas outside a church in Suwon, south of Seoul, Monday, as church-linked virus cases were reported. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The health authorities urged citizens Tuesday to maintain intense social distancing measures amid the reappearance of new COVID-19 infections in the metropolitan area.
The country's fight to contain the coronavirus pandemic is facing yet another difficulty after new infection clusters in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province were connected to small-scale religious gatherings.
The cases associated with churches in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area have emerged as a new source of concern as at least 40 infections have been traced to churches in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and local government officials.
The KCDC said it had found 38 new cases Monday, bringing the country's total to 11,541. Thirty-six were via local transmission, while the other two were traced to recent travelers from overseas ― one from the United States and the other from Kuwait. Among the local infections, 15 were reported in Gyeonggi Province, 13 in Seoul and eight in Incheon. One additional fatality was reported, raising the death toll to 272.
Speaking at a regular briefing Tuesday, Health Minister Park Neung-hoo repeatedly urged people in the metropolitan area to avoid religious gatherings such as bible studies and pastoral meetings.
“Infections among such small groups have a high possibility to spread the virus instantly especially to senior citizens and children. It could become a large-scale infections in the Seoul metropolitan area,” Park said at the Sejong Government Complex.
Park's remarks came as a third group of students are set to return to school, Wednesday. Students have begun attending classes under a government plan since May 20. The first group of 440,000 high school seniors and second of 2.37 million kindergarteners, first and second graders of elementary school, middle school seniors and second-year high school students have been attending classes for around two weeks.
Under the third phase of the plan, 1.78 million high school freshmen, middle school sophomores and third- and fourth-grade elementary school students are returning to school, June 3.
Korea has observed a downward trend of new infections over the last four days since May 28 as cases linked to a distribution center run by e-commerce leader Coupang in Bucheon and Seoul's nightlife area of Itaewon have seen a slowdown.
The KCDC remains on high alert over the possibility that sporadic church-traced cases could lead to a potential new wave of mass infections in the densely populated capital area.
“It's time to give up some part of your daily routine for quarantine. These moments will be an important test that stands to determine if we can break the chain of virus transmissions,” Sohn Young-rae, a senior health official, said in a briefing.
Sohn also stressed that it was important for individuals to follow basic precautions such as washing hands, keeping a social distance, and wearing a mask in daily life.