Confirmed Patient Movement Spread on Internet and SNS... Authorities Recommend Deletion

Secondary Damage Continues... "Recommendation for Deletion and Monitoring Through Coordination with Relevant Agencies"

Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, speaking at a special briefing on children related to COVID-19 on the 29th (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] On the 1st, quarantine authorities announced that they will recommend deletion of unnecessary information about confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) through consultations with related agencies and will continuously monitor the situation. Although the movement information of confirmed cases is being deleted after a certain period, secondary damage to businesses included in the movement paths continues as the information has already spread through the internet or social network services (SNS).

Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said at a regular briefing held at the Osong Disease Control Headquarters in Chungbuk on the 1st, "Regarding unnecessary movement paths of confirmed cases that have spread through SNS or the internet, we will recommend deletion through consultations with the Korea Communications Commission and other related agencies and will monitor the situation." She added, "Currently, guidelines have been established to disclose movement paths only in a form that does not identify individuals when necessary for infectious disease prevention. Local governments and the government can comply, but the information may have spread separately on the internet."

Previously, as criticism arose that disclosing detailed routes and visited places of confirmed cases by specific dates and times was an invasion of privacy, quarantine authorities revised the guidelines on movement disclosure twice.

According to the information disclosure guidelines on confirmed patients' movement paths distributed to local governments on March 14, local governments must disclose places and means of transportation where contact with confirmed cases occurred to the extent that infection is a concern in terms of time and space. Information that can identify individuals is excluded from disclosure, but spatial and temporal information should be specified as much as possible. The target period is from one day before the onset of COVID-19 symptoms to the quarantine date, and if symptoms are not confirmed, from one day before the specimen collection date to the quarantine date.

In the second edition of the guidelines released on April 12, a notable feature was the reduction of the disclosure period to minimize secondary damage to businesses included in the movement paths. The disclosure period was changed to "until 14 days have passed since the confirmed case last contacted another person," requiring deletion or conversion to non-disclosure after two weeks.

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