Updates on COVID-19 in Republic of Korea

6 April, 2020

○ Epidemiological links have been found for 82.5% of the total cases; 10.0% are either under investigation or sporadic cases. More details on the epidemiological links within each province or city are shown in Table 2.

○ From Euijeongbu St. Mary’s Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, 4 additional cases have been confirmed during self-quarantine. In total, 44 cases (patients = 16; staff/workers = 13; family and other contacts = 15) have been confirmed since 29 March.

○ From Second Mi-Ju Hospital in Daegu City, 4 additional cases were confirmed. In total, 175 cases have been confirmed.

○ From Second Hansarang Convalescent Hospital in Daegu City, 1 additional case was confirmed. In total, 125 cases have been confirmed.

○ From Pureun Nursing Home in Gyeongbuk Province, 7 cases (patients = 4; staff/workers = 3) have been re-confirmed from the tests performed on 33 cases that had been discharged from isolation. There also have been 18 re-confirmed cases in Daegu. The KCDC will begin investigating the matter.

○ On 4-5 April, 2 nurses who provided care for confirmed patients were confirmed. One was confirmed during self-quarantine. As for the other, contact investigation and disease control/prevention measures are underway.

○ KCDC will prepare and implement detailed plans to ensure a safer work environment for healthcare workers in accordance with the Infection Prevention Plan announced by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.

- To help with early detection of suspected cases, healthcare providers will continue to have access to their patients’ travel history to regions with COVID-19 and history of contact with confirmed cases (via ITS, DUR, etc.).

- Sufficient full-body protective equipment, N95 masks, goggles and other infection prevention supplies will be provided according to demand, and domestic production will be promoted to ensure stable supply. (Purchase of 2,000,000 full-body PPE per month until June, and 500,000-1,000,000 per month afterwards)

- To protect healthcare workers from unidentified sources of infection, preventive measures will be applied to treatment of all inpatients.

- Inspection toolkits for infection prevention rules tailored to the type of healthcare institution will be produced and distributed.

- Tailored infection prevention consulting and advising will be provided for various types of hospitals including general hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, and convalescent hospitals.

○ KCDC released interim analysis result of its investigation into Sejong City / Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries clusters.

- The first case was confirmed 7 days after the first onset of suspected symptoms because the symptoms were non-specific and mild. As a result, secondary transmissions occurred due to the office working environment. During 10-24 March, 39 cases (staff = 29; family = 7; other staff/workers = 3) were confirmed.

- Through complete movement control and testing of the entire staff, many asymptomatic infected cases were identified early, making it possible to curb further spread of the disease.

- Asymptomatic case proportion is 33.3% based on the presence or absence of symptoms at the time of confirmation. Further analysis is underway based on clinical progress.

○ Starting 1 April, all inbound travelers boarding from overseas are subject to mandatory quarantine.

○ The persons under self-quarantine are required to follow the self-quarantine guidelines provided. They must not share their utensils, towels and other personal belongings with their family, refrain from coming in contact with family members, roommates, or cohabitants.

○ Starting 5 April, stronger penalty is applied to persons who violate home quarantine (self-quarantine). Failure to comply with home quarantine is punishable by imprisonment up to 1 year or a fine up to 10 million won in accordance with Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.

○ KCDC asked people for continued participation in the Enhanced Social Distancing campaign which has been extended to 19 April. KCDC is advising people to refrain from activities that make it easy to come in close contact with other people in an enclosed space and to maintian good personal hygiene including washing hands and covering coughs/sneezes.