Spread from Daejeon Direct Sales Companies... Government "Closely Monitoring Chungnam and Sejong as Well"

On the morning of the 17th, citizens are lining up to get tested for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Seogu Public Health Center screening clinic in Mannyeon-dong, Seogu, Daejeon. Source=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The government announced on the 18th that it is closely monitoring the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the Daejeon, Chungnam, and Sejong areas.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' quarantine team, said in a press briefing after the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, "The number of confirmed cases in Daejeon continues to increase, and we are also closely watching the possibility of spread to Chungnam and Sejong areas."

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, among the 59 new patients reported that day, 11 cases occurred in the Daejeon, Chungnam, and Sejong regions. Daejeon had the highest number with 7 cases, followed by Chungnam with 3, and Sejong with 1.

The government suspects that the sporadic cluster infections in the Daejeon area are related to door-to-door sales companies. Yoon explained, "Among the initial confirmed cases, there seem to be patients connected to a church (Daejeon cases 47 and 48) and a door-to-door sales company (Daejeon case 49). It is necessary to verify the situation through additional epidemiological investigations."

In particular, the Daejeon case 49 patient, who visited product explanation meetings of door-to-door sales companies located in Seoul and Daejeon Seo-gu, is a registered member of Shincheonji, so the possibility of additional cluster infections cannot be ruled out. According to Daejeon city, among the 16 recently confirmed cases, 3 are related to Shincheonji.

Yoon stated, "We are doing our best to block connections to other cluster infection cases," and added, "We will discuss internally whether additional measures are needed in the Daejeon area."

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