Confirmed Cases Related to Itaewon Clubs Reach 79 in Five Days (Update)

On the 11th, citizens who visited the screening clinic set up at Yongsan-gu Public Health Center in Seoul, amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19 originating from Itaewon clubs, are lining up to get tested. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) related to Itaewon clubs increased to 79 as of 8 a.m. on the 11th.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for COVID-19, after patient No. 66 in Yongin was confirmed on the 6th and reflected in the statistics the next day, the total number of patients related to Itaewon clubs increased to 73 as of midnight on the same day. Among them, 59 people directly visited the clubs, and 14 were family members or acquaintances who did not visit the clubs but are presumed to have been infected through contact with patients within the local community.

Additionally, 6 more people were confirmed positive only in the morning after midnight on the same day. The quarantine authorities and local governments have requested those who visited 5 to 6 Itaewon clubs during the approximately two-week period from late April to the 6th of this month to undergo COVID-19 diagnostic testing. Since more than 5,000 people visited during this period, there is a high possibility of additional confirmed cases emerging.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, after securing entry logs and CCTV footage from 5 Itaewon clubs from the 24th of last month to the 6th of this month to identify visitors, excluding duplicates, 5,517 people were identified. Among them, 2,405 people were contacted by phone, while the remaining 3,112 have not been reached.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters' quarantine team, said, "If you visited the Itaewon area from the 29th of last month to the 6th of this month, please minimize contact with others, stay at home, report to the public health center or call 1339, and get tested at a screening clinic."

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