[Q&A] Jeong Eun-gyeong: "The lifting of Bundang Jesaeng and Ansim Hospital status should be decided after reviewing investigation results"

Jung Eun-kyung, Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] At Bundang Jesaeng Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, nine people including hospitalized patients, caregivers, and medical staff tested positive for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), leading the hospital to suspend medical services on the 6th. The hospital was designated as a National Safe Hospital on the 27th of last month, separating respiratory patients from non-respiratory patients for treatment.

Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, said at the regular briefing in the afternoon, "I think people may feel anxious because patients have appeared at a Safe Hospital," but regarding the issue of lifting the Safe Hospital designation, she expressed a cautious stance, saying, "We need to make a judgment after reviewing accurate investigation results such as the source of infection and patient occurrence trends."

◇ Below is the Q&A with Director Jung Eun-kyung regarding Bundang Jesaeng Hospital

- Have the investigation results related to the Bundang Jesaeng Hospital case been released?

▲ The situation was reported last night, and the Gyeonggi Provincial Government is currently conducting an investigation. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters is also considering dispatching an immediate response team. We have grasped the scale of patients, and the hospital is currently closed. We are investigating the movement paths of patients, especially since medical personnel have tested positive, focusing on their movement paths and exposure range.

- Will Bundang Jesaeng Hospital be removed from the National Safe Hospital list?

▲ We need to review the infection routes and patient occurrence trends before making a decision. The designation or removal of Safe Hospitals is handled by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, so a judgment will be made during the ongoing investigation. However, since COVID-19 infection has limitations in transmission during the very early mild stages, it was quite difficult to properly filter out infection sources at the initial stage.

- It is said that confirmed cases at Bundang Jesaeng Hospital came in for treatment without respiratory or suspicious symptoms.

▲ It is quite difficult for patients with underlying diseases or elderly people to recognize symptoms. Especially those undergoing chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy find it harder to recognize symptoms, and it is also difficult to distinguish from pre-existing symptoms. We do not yet have information on whether they were infected while asymptomatic, so we need to wait for the investigation results.

- People visiting National Safe Hospitals for outpatient or inpatient care may feel anxious.

▲ I think people may feel anxious because confirmed cases have appeared at designated Safe Hospitals. We will promptly investigate and announce whether there were any issues that caused patient infections and whether movement path separation was properly implemented.

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