Authorities: "First transmission at Guro Call Center likely from 10th floor employee in building with outbreak on February 22" (Update)

A closure notice is posted on the Korea Building in Guro-gu, Seoul, where a COVID-19 cluster infection occurred on the 12th. Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The quarantine authorities have identified an employee of the education center on the 10th floor of the Korea Building in Sindorim-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, as the initial transmitter (index patient) of the COVID-19 cluster outbreak that occurred at the call center in the building.

On the afternoon of the 15th, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, said at a regular briefing, "Determining who was the first patient to show symptoms will be the starting point to clarify the transmission route of this call center," adding, "We are currently considering the education center employee working on the 10th floor, who developed symptoms on February 22, as the most likely first case."

He added, "However, this employee only worked until the 21st of last month and did not come to work on the 22nd," and "The symptom onset date may vary, or it is possible that viral shedding was active even before symptoms appeared."

The location with the highest number of patients was the call center on the 11th floor of the building. Deputy Head Kwon explained, "Regarding this person (the 10th-floor education center employee), two family members have been confirmed positive, and among nine coworkers, one has also tested positive. We are conducting further analysis to determine the exact infection route," and added, "Considering the timing and logic, it is highly likely that the infection on the 10th floor spread to the call centers on the 7th to 9th floors and the 11th floor, but additional investigations are ongoing."

Meanwhile, according to the quarantine authorities' tally, as of midnight on the day, the number of confirmed cases related to the Korea Building increased by nine from the previous day to 124. Among them, 85 are employees and 39 are contacts. Thirteen confirmed cases also emerged through religious events, such as those at Saengmyeongsu Church located in Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, which was visited by confirmed patients from the 11th-floor call center. The authorities have completed testing for 1,094 out of 1,148 individuals targeted for testing.

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