New virus cases spike amid eased social distancing measures

Students at Changcheon Elementary School in Seoul have their temperatures checked and wash their hands with sanitizer before entering the school, Monday. The country will allow up to two-thirds of students to return for face-to-face learning, starting Oct. 19, in accordance with eased social distancing rules. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

The daily number of new COVID-19 infections in Korea spiked again to nearly 100, putting the health authorities on high alert, Monday, after social distancing guidelines were eased.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the nation added 97 COVID-19 cases for Sunday, raising the total caseload to 24,703. This was a sharp rise from 58 cases identified Saturday, and came after locally transmitted cases and those imported from overseas increased at the same time.

Starting Monday, the country lowered social distancing guidelines from Level 2, which had been in place across the nation since late August, to Level 1, based on the belief that the country's virus situation has been showing signs of abating.

Level 1 allows people to normalize most of their daily activities, while taking basic precautions. The government adopted the three-tier social distancing system June 28.

Among the 97 new cases, the number of local infections stood at 68, exceeding the benchmark of less than 50 set by the health authorities to implement Level 1. The number of cases that came from overseas was 29, the highest number since late July.

The increase in locally transmitted infections was attributed to sporadic group outbreaks that have been emerging consistently across the country.

Fourteen cases were traced to family gatherings in Daejeon, while 15 were tracked to social gatherings in Dongducheon, northern Gyeonggi Province, as of noon Monday, the KDCA said.

The uptick in the number of imported cases apparently came as 11 students from Nepal, who arrived in Korea to attend a Korean-language course at a university in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday, tested positive.

The authorities said they have disinfected the dormitory of the students and are carrying out an epidemiological investigation.

Health experts are showing differing views on the government's decision to lower the social distancing level.

Jung Ki-suck, a pulmonology professor at Hallym University, said, “The decision was an appropriate action. Other parts of the nation, except for the Seoul metropolitan area, have seen few virus infections, thus there was no need to maintain Level 2 guidelines.”

On the other hand, Chun Eun-mi, a pulmonologist at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital in Seoul, raised concerns that the maximum incubation periods for the Chuseok holiday and the Hangeul Day long weekend have not passed yet.

“In addition, there are still many asymptomatic patients. It could still be too early to ease distancing restrictions,” she said. “There were many people in restaurants and cafes even when the country was under Level 2. There will be more concerns over the spread of the virus under the eased restrictions.”

Regarding the lingering concerns, Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official in charge of containment measures, stressed that returning to Level 1 did not mean that anti-infection efforts were over.

“All of us should remain wary over a possible spike in the number of patients,” he said during a regular briefing. “We ask people to continue to follow social distancing guidelines such as wearing face masks.”