Virus already widely spread through asymptomatic carriers

People line up to receive COVID-19 tests at a makeshift testing center at Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City Hall, Friday. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

The resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic here appears to have been spread, at least in part, through asymptomatic carriers in the Seoul metropolitan area, with at least 170 people confirmed this week to be infected with the coronavirus that causes the disease. These people were tested at temporary testing centers where those with no symptoms or no contact history with confirmed patients were able to undergo tests.

Since Monday, the health authorities have been operating 150 makeshift testing booths in Seoul and the surrounding area to provide free diagnostic tests in an effort to preemptively diagnose asymptomatic coronavirus carriers in order to slow down the spread of COVID-19.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Friday, the 170 people visited metropolitan area testing booths from Monday to Thursday where they tested positive for the coronavirus.

During the period, 70,709 people underwent tests at the facilities.

Hong Jeong-ik, a KDCA official, mentioned the discovery of the asymptomatic carriers in a regular briefing at the agency's building in Osong, North Chungcheong Province.

“If they had gone to ordinary testing centers or medical institutions, they might have been confirmed one or two days, but as they had not visited any they were not detected at all, so I would say this early detection is meaningful,” he said.

According to the KDCA, Friday, there were 1,062 new infections for Thursday, including 1,036 local cases, raising the total caseload to 47,515.

This was the third consecutive day for the country's daily new cases to top 1,000, as infection clusters across the country continue to be uncovered.

Among the locally transmitted cases, 393 were reported in Seoul, 300 in Gyeonggi Province and 64 in Incheon, west of Seoul. Eleven additional deaths were also reported, raising the death toll to 645.