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.
Cluster infections show no sign of abating in capital area
A health worker carries out a coronavirus test on a citizen at a makeshift clinic at Gangnam public health center, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The health authorities are struggling to cope with a possible resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic as there are no clear signs of it abating in the Seoul metropolitan area, despite the number of new daily infections staying below 40 for the third consecutive day, Tuesday.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 34 new cases, including 21 local infections, were detected Monday, which raised the country's total to 12,155. The total death tally increased by one to 278.
The daily new infections slightly decreased from the previous day, and most were local transmissions in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, the KCDC said.
Among the 21 local cases, 11 were people living in Seoul, four were residents of Gyeonggi Province, two were from Incheon, and one was a resident of South Gyeongsang Province. The number of imported cases also surged to double-digit levels, at 13.
The cases traced to a warehouse run by e-commerce leader Coupang in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Provice, reached 152, Monday, up five from a day earlier. Infections linked to a door-to-door business establishment, Richway, rose to 172 the same day. The infection cases linked to a care center in Dobong, northeastern Seoul, stood at 22.
The KCDC warned that potential mass infections in the Seoul metropolitan area could be on the way as cases in risk-prone facilities could spring up at any time. It called for extra caution after the discovery of the infection clusters tied to religious gatherings and the door-to-door sales company in Seoul.
Over the past two weeks, the metropolitan area accounted for nearly 90 percent of newly added COVID-19 cases, with most of them traced to community transmission. The continued rise in infection clusters has forced the health authorities to indefinitely extend strengthened preventive measures in the greater Seoul are following an initial two-week implementation.
The new measures were supposed to run through Sunday, but the government decided to have them in force indefinitely, as group infections in the region showed no signs of abating.
“Many countries have experienced a second wave of the virus spreading as soon as they eased social distancing measures, and no one knows when an explosive spread will occur in closed collective facilities. The place could be a religious meeting place, medical institutions, workplaces or even schools,” KCDC Deputy Director Kwon Joon-wook said in a briefing.
"But what is certain is that large-scale virus spreads never occur in places that thoroughly implement infection prevention protocols,” he said. “Many cases of infection prevention we have conducted so far, including at churches, schools, medical facilities, and during the April 15 general election, are giving us both hope and lessons.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education said it has been implementing measures to reduce classroom crowding, as the country continues to see the uptick in infections in Seoul and its adjacent cities.
The ministry said the measure to cap the number of students, which was originally scheduled to end last week, will be effective until June 30. Elementary and middle schools are required to cap the number of students in attendance at one time at one-third of the total student body, and high schools at two-thirds.