Korea's first Omicron patients face online wrath after private info leaked

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By Yoon Ja-young

Private information about the couple who first tested positive for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Korea has been leaked online. While some blame the couple for giving false information about their whereabouts to health authorities, others say revealing their photos and even information about their family members should not be tolerated.

At Bobae Dream, a popular site for sharing information about cars, a person uploaded a post titled "I found the Omicron," Dec. 3. The authorities said earlier this month that the married couple in their 40s were confirmed to have been infected with the Omicron variant while on a visit to Nigeria.

The post included the picture and names of the couple as well as the picture and name of the head pastor of their church. The post instantly drew a lot of attention, receiving more than 240,000 hits, including 2,500 likes and 400 replies. Some online trolls blamed the couple harshly, calling them "biochemical terrorists" and suggesting that their information should be shared more widely. Another post even revealed the name of the elementary school that the couple's young child was attending. Diverse posts about them can be found on other sites and social media platforms.

Some people are justifying spreading their private information, pointing out that the couple lied during the health authorities' questioning regarding the tracing of their close contacts, which resulted in the Omicron variant spreading in their community and well beyond. The couple claimed that they came home in a taxi with special quarantine measures from the airport, but it turned out that their friend from Uzbekistan met them at the airport and drove them home.

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As a result, the health authorities failed to identify the acquaintance as having had close contact with the couple and he went about his daily life without any restrictions for six days, participating in a church program for foreigners with hundreds of others, until he was confirmed to be infected in a test that he underwent voluntarily.

Others, however, are criticizing that all the media attention is turning the incident into "witch hunt." "Their child hasn't done anything wrong," someone pointed out.

The couple and their church have apologized through media interviews.

Experts also show concern that such online vengeance can negatively affect virus containment measures. While thousands of infections are newly detected each day, some people may be discouraged from providing accurate and full information about their close contacts for fear that they also can be targeted online.

"Successful contact tracing is possible by encouraging people to provide correct information voluntarily as quickly as possible. Excessive doxxing will only discourage patients from providing information," an official at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said.

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