‘Daejeon COVID-19 Resurgence’ Begins via Multi-level Facilities in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Diagram illustrating the transmission routes of the 'Daejeon Door-to-Door Sales Group Infection' analyzed by Daejeon City based on location information systems and credit card usage history. Provided by Daejeon City.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] An epidemiological investigation has revealed that the resurgence of COVID-19 in the Daejeon area began through visitors to multi-level marketing and door-to-door sales facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area.

According to Daejeon City as of 7 a.m. on the 8th, the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Daejeon area reached 149, of which 103 were confirmed positive since the 15th of last month. This means that an average of 5 confirmed cases per day have been reported in the region over the past 20 days.

Initially, it was believed that the source of the COVID-19 resurgence in the region was the pastor couple (#47, #48) of a church located in Galma-dong, Seo-gu, and a person related to a multi-level marketing facility (#49). After these three confirmed cases emerged, the number of confirmed cases in the region began to surge rapidly.

However, as a result of reverse tracing of local infection transmission routes by the city and quarantine authorities using location information systems (GPS) and credit card usage records, confirmed cases #51 and #60 were identified as key index patients in the transmission chain.

The city estimates that these confirmed cases acted as transmitters in the region after visiting multi-level marketing and door-to-door sales facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area.

For example, confirmed case #51 was confirmed to have met Seoul #100 confirmed case at a building in Seoul on the 5th of last month, and then contacted Ansan confirmed cases (#24, #28) in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi-do on the 6th, before meeting the pastor couple (#47, #48) and the local multi-level marketing facility-related person (#49). Although #51 was confirmed positive later than #47 to #49, it is highly likely that #51 was infected with COVID-19 earlier and transmitted the virus.

In particular, after confirmed case #51 met confirmed case #49 at a beauty salon in Gung-dong, Yuseong-gu, the salon operator (#59) was additionally confirmed positive, and the city and quarantine authorities estimate that a series of additional transmission cases mediated by the operator occurred sequentially.

Regarding confirmed case #60, another key transmission axis, it was found that after attending a coin multi-level marketing briefing held in Seoul three times between May 21 and 28, #60 was not only infected but also acted as a transmission mediator among contacts.

Most notably, confirmed case #60 had been operating a multi-level marketing-related office in Orange Town, Goejeong-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon. Epidemiological investigations revealed that several people who visited this office were subsequently infected with COVID-19.

Separately, confirmed case #3 from Gyeryong also appears to have influenced the resurgence of COVID-19 in the Daejeon area. Confirmed case #3 from Gyeryong is known to have been infected after visiting Dunsan Electronic Town in Daejeon. However, location information system tracking confirmed that this case had traveled to Seoul together with Daejeon confirmed case #60, suggesting that confirmed case #3 from Gyeryong actually played a role as a transmission mediator of COVID-19 in Daejeon.

A city official explained, “Although confirmed case #3 from Gyeryong was known to have been infected after visiting Daejeon Electronic Town, epidemiological investigations using location information systems revealed that this case had traveled to Seoul several times together with Daejeon confirmed case #60 and others. Subsequently, it was additionally confirmed that confirmed case #3 from Gyeryong visited places such as Electronic Town and Orange Town, leading to other confirmed cases.”

He added, “Considering that visitors to multi-level marketing and door-to-door sales facilities in Seoul are at the forefront of the COVID-19 resurgence in the region, the tentative conclusion is that this resurgence did not start in Daejeon but was caused by ‘inflow from the Seoul metropolitan area.’”

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