'100 Days of COVID-19 in Korea'... Gwangju City Blocks Large-Scale Infections with Proactive Response

Mayor Lee Yong-seop Leads Response by Holding 17 Direct Press Conferences

30 Confirmed Daegu Patients Receive Treatment and Recover in Gwangju Through Bed Sharing

Mayor Lee Yong-seop of Gwangju Metropolitan City and city officials expressed "Respect" in sign language on the morning of the 28th at the 5th-floor briefing room of City Hall, conveying their gratitude to citizens and medical staff who actively cooperated in response to COVID-19, marking 100 days since the first domestic confirmed case. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] As of the 28th, marking 100 days since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in South Korea and 86 days since the first confirmed case in Gwangju, there are currently 4 patients undergoing treatment in Gwangju.

Accordingly, Gwangju Metropolitan City is evaluated to have minimized the spread of COVID-19 through proactive response measures.

In particular, early acquisition of the list of Shincheonji church members who visited Daegu and promptly identifying and isolating confirmed cases and close contacts without missing the golden time is seen as a key factor in preventing large-scale spread.

According to Gwangju City, as of midnight on the 28th, 100 days after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in South Korea on January 20, there have been a total of 30 confirmed cases in Gwangju, of which 26 have fully recovered and been discharged. There have been no deaths, and among 1,216 contacts, 1,209 have been released from quarantine, with 7 still in isolation.

The city, following the principle that "excessive response is better than insufficient response" in infectious disease control, implemented cohort isolation at 21st Century Hospital where the initial confirmed case occurred, operated a Shincheonji task force to secure the golden time, strengthened conditions for releasing Shincheonji-related confirmed cases and contacts from quarantine, enhanced management of overseas entrants, formed the nation's only public-private joint countermeasure committee, shared hospital beds with Daegu, and deployed tailored livelihood stabilization measures, mobilizing all possible countermeasures to block infection spread while also considering the local economy and citizens' lives.

During this process, Mayor Lee Yong-seop held a total of 17 official press conferences, including statements and appeals, to share response situations in real time and to encourage active cooperation and participation from citizens, leading the COVID-19 response efforts.

He also conducted 83 fact-checks via SNS to share COVID-19 situations and information, actively informing citizens of the rules to follow and requesting their cooperation.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun highly praised Gwangju's proactive, bold, and precise COVID-19 response and encouraged other local governments to apply Gwangju's model.

Gwangju City switched its administration to a "COVID-19 Emergency Response System" on February 3, when the first confirmed case occurred.

They held frequent joint countermeasure meetings with related organizations to ensure systematic and organic responses, mobilizing all human and material resources available in the community.

When the first patient in Gwangju with potential for cluster infection appeared at 21st Century Hospital, the city implemented Korea's first cohort isolation at this hospital to prepare for additional cluster infections.

Subsequently, 450 contacts were quickly identified, and depending on the risk of contact, patients on the same floor were cohort isolated, those on different floors were isolated at the Fire Academy dormitory, and the rest were self-isolated and treated. On February 20, all were confirmed uninfected and the isolation was lifted.

On February 20, as confirmed cases attending Daegu Shincheonji church services unexpectedly appeared nationwide, the city judged that obtaining the list of Daegu visitors was urgent. They formed a task force including Shincheonji officials, persuaded them, and received a list of 11 Daegu visitors. Through comprehensive testing, 3 additional confirmed cases were found and immediately isolated, blocking further infections.

On February 27, to enhance the completeness of infection spread prevention in the second phase, the city issued a "ban on gatherings and forced closure order" for all Shincheonji-related facilities.

On March 6, Gwangju became the only local government nationwide to form a public-private joint countermeasure committee including medical professionals, activating a specialized quarantine system.

The number of private epidemiological investigators was expanded to 20 across 5 teams to quickly identify confirmed patients' movements and contacts.

The city also conducted preventive cohort isolation for social welfare facilities such as Happy Mom Nursing Home and Gwangju Hope Center.

With increasing concerns about community transmission, especially in facilities housing vulnerable groups such as the elderly and disabled, where external infection sources could cause cluster infections, this was a proactive measure to protect uninfected vulnerable facilities from infection sources.

On March 9 and 12, the city preemptively implemented quarantine release measures stricter than government guidelines to protect the community from asymptomatic infections.

While government guidelines allowed release from self-quarantine after 14 days if asymptomatic, Gwangju City only released quarantine on the 13th day if test results were negative, discovering 4 additional confirmed cases (Gwangju cases 14, 15, 24, and 26) through this approach.

The government allowed hospital discharge of confirmed patients upon meeting either clinical or test criteria, but Gwangju City required both clinical and test criteria to be met for discharge.

Two special administrative orders to block community infection from overseas entrants were also implemented with stricter standards than government guidelines.

The government required 14-day self-quarantine and testing within 3 days of entry for arrivals from Europe, and testing upon symptom onset during 14-day self-quarantine for arrivals from the U.S. However, on March 29, Gwangju City transferred all arrivals from the U.S. and Europe to residential treatment centers, conducted comprehensive testing within 3 days of quarantine, transferred positives to isolation hospitals, and allowed negatives to leave facilities but continue self-quarantine.

For arrivals from other countries, while the government required 14-day self-quarantine from the date of entry, Gwangju City strengthened this by requiring testing within 3 days of entry for all arrivals, identifying 4 confirmed cases (Gwangju cases 27, 28, 29, and 30) in advance and blocking community transmission.

From midnight on April 18, all overseas entrants were quarantined in residential treatment facilities immediately upon arrival in Gwangju without exception, tested promptly, with positives sent to hospitals and negatives subjected to 14-day self-quarantine.

Earlier, on March 18, Mayor Lee Yong-seop issued an earnest appeal requesting citizens to refrain from events in enclosed spaces.

He then held an emergency meeting with the Gwangju Christian Council, appealing to refrain from collective worship services and replace them with home worship to prevent community spread of COVID-19.

Gwangju City sent cooperation letters under Mayor Lee's name to about 1,500 churches in the city, again requesting replacement of collective worship with home worship.

On Sundays, officials from the city hall and five district offices visited churches to personally appeal for refraining from collective worship and switching to home worship.

Since social distancing began on February 22, the city has inspected a total of 10,775 religious, indoor sports, cultural, and academy facilities, supporting them with quarantine supplies to manage high-risk cluster infection facilities.

The Gwangju community made a bold decision to accept and treat COVID-19 patients from Daegu, its "Moonlight Alliance" sister city, drawing significant attention.

On March 1, the 101st anniversary of the March 1st Movement, 43 leaders from various institutions and organizations in Gwangju, including the city government, city council, education office, May organizations, religious groups, economic sectors, civil society, and medical community, issued a special statement in the afternoon.

Mayor Lee emphasized, "There are heartbreaking situations where patients are left untreated due to lack of beds, resulting in deaths. Just as countless hands of solidarity stood with Gwangju in May 1980, now is the time for us to repay that debt."

Starting with the first family of four on March 4, a total of 30 Daegu confirmed patients were admitted and treated at Gwangju Bitgoeul Chonnam National University Hospital. By April 12, the last family was fully recovered and returned to Daegu.

Gwangju's sharing of hospital beds became a decisive factor encouraging other local governments hesitant to accept Daegu patients due to concerns about community infection to join in, presenting a new model of inter-local government cooperation during disasters.

It also helped ease long-standing regional tensions, laying the foundation for harmony and solidarity between Yeongnam and Honam regions, and especially strengthening the Moonlight Alliance between Gwangju and Daegu.

The city announced five rounds of livelihood stabilization measures to revitalize the local economy.

First, on March 15, it announced a special loan support policy offering unsecured, interest-free, and fee-free loans to small business owners affected by COVID-19.

Second, on March 19, the city and district offices froze all public utility and facility usage fees.

Third, emergency living expenses of up to 1 million KRW were provided to households affected by COVID-19.

Households with income below 100% of the median income received between 300,000 and 500,000 KRW as "household emergency living expenses."

Out of approximately 618,500 households, about 260,000 (41.9%) qualified, with support amounts of 300,000 KRW for 1-2 person households, 400,000 KRW for 3-4 person households, and 500,000 KRW for households of 5 or more.

For low-income special employment workers whose income significantly decreased after the first confirmed case on February 3, up to 500,000 KRW per month for two months was provided as living expenses.

Low-income workers in businesses with fewer than 100 employees who lost jobs or were on unpaid leave due to COVID-19 were also eligible for up to 1 million KRW in living expenses.

Fourth, the city was the first local government to announce employment retention support measures for small businesses and SMEs.

Linked with the Ministry of Employment and Labor's employment retention subsidy system, the city pledged to fully support employers' employment retention costs for businesses with fewer than 300 employees.

Fifth, the city announced plans to hire more than 12,000 citizens for public jobs this year.

The first phase of the project began this month, investing 4.4 billion KRW across five sectors to hire about 764 people. This includes life quarantine teams disinfecting multi-use facilities by residential area, public transportation disinfection teams, residential treatment center operation jobs, and COVID-19 livelihood economy keepers handling guidance and applications for Gwangju-style emergency living expenses.

The city opened a public job support center on the first floor of city hall and received 1,939 applications by the 22nd for 764 positions in the first phase, recording a competition rate of 2.5 to 1.

The second phase, starting next month and continuing through the second half of the year, will invest 59.9 billion KRW across 18 sectors to hire 11,395 people.

In overcoming the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19, sharing and solidarity among ordinary neighbors have been a great strength.

Since the special fundraising campaign to overcome the COVID-19 crisis began in February, a total of 111 cases worth about 3.8 billion KRW in cash and goods have been received through the Gwangju Community Chest of Korea and the Korean Red Cross Gwangju-Jeonnam branch.

Donations also flowed to Daegu, the "Moonlight Alliance" sister city.

Donations from Gwangju citizens to Daegu totaled 68 cases worth 1.385 billion KRW.

Gwangju City plans to continue focusing all efforts on protecting citizens' safety and revitalizing the local economy, which is in critical condition.

First, to transition to daily life social distancing, while the central government is preparing basic guidelines for individuals and groups and detailed guidelines by type, Gwangju City will operate a life quarantine task force to ensure harmony between daily life and quarantine measures.

In the post-COVID-19 era, the city is determined to successfully promote the Gwangju-type job project and the AI-centered city project, using these as twin engines to revitalize the local economy.

Additionally, the city will establish the "Gwangju Medical Center," a dedicated infectious disease hospital equipped with negative pressure facilities, to build a medical safety net and strengthen the public health care system capable of effectively responding to infectious diseases, disasters, and emergencies.

The "Gwangju Medical Center" is planned to have about 250 beds, with an estimated budget of around 100 billion KRW.

After reviewing the service project, the city included 100 million KRW in the first supplementary budget this year for a feasibility study on establishing the Gwangju Medical Center. In the first half of the year, a task force team composed of experts from various fields will be formed and operated to accelerate site selection and feasibility studies.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, "Gwangju's prevention of a large-scale COVID-19 cluster infection is a miracle created by the dedication of public officials and medical staff, the active and sacrificial participation of citizens, and sharing and donation efforts. Gwangju City will protect citizens' safety through perfect daily life social distancing and revive the local economy, which is in critical condition, by using the Gwangju-type job project and AI industry as twin engines."

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