Cheong Wa Dae: "Full Screening of 3,000 Wuhan Arrivals from 13th to 26th Starts Today"

Request for Medical Institution Cooperation, Early Response Instructions to Health Centers... President Moon Orders Expansion of 1339 Call Center Response Capacity

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] The Blue House announced that it has begun a full-scale investigation from the 28th targeting 3,000 people who entered from Wuhan City, China, the origin of the 'Novel Coronavirus Infection (Wuhan Pneumonia),' between the 13th and 26th of this month.

Han Jeong-woo, the Blue House deputy spokesperson, explained this during a meeting with reporters on the day. Han said, "There was an instruction from President Moon Jae-in this morning regarding the 1339 call center. The demand for inquiries to the call center is expected to increase, so the instruction was to promptly implement measures to expand the response capacity of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call center 1339 to adequately handle the increased volume."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Han added, "Secondly, cooperation with medical institutions is more important than ever. In this regard, if a patient with a history of visiting China visits with respiratory symptoms, medical institutions are urged to actively cooperate by contacting the local public health center to ensure early response."

Han also said, "Thirdly, starting today, the Blue House will hold a daily situation check meeting chaired by the Director of the National Situation Room. The first meeting has already been held, and as the crisis level has been raised to 'alert,' the Central Accident Response Headquarters has been activated, and the government is strengthening its response by supporting the Central Disease Control Headquarters."

Han explained, "The Central Response Headquarters is the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Central Disease Control Headquarters is the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If this stage spreads nationwide or escalates, it will move to the 'serious' stage, and in such cases, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters will be operated as necessary for a comprehensive government-wide response."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.