[6 Months of COVID-19] 'Patient 31·Daegu·Mask'... The Unending War

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The domestic novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation marked six months on the 20th. The cumulative number of confirmed cases is 13,745, with 295 deaths.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the first confirmed case in the country occurred on January 20. The first domestic COVID-19 patient was a 35-year-old Chinese woman who visited Korea for tourism purposes.

The first cluster infection was triggered around Daegu and Gyeongbuk on February 18, about a month after the first case, when the 31st patient, a Shincheonji Church member, was identified. The number of new confirmed cases, which had been in single digits, surged to 909 on February 29. Nationwide, a 'mask crisis' occurred, and the infectious disease crisis alert level was raised to the highest level, 'serious.' This is the second time the 'serious' alert level has been issued since the novel flu outbreak in November 2009.

The government implemented 'social distancing,' urging restraint on events and gatherings, starting March 22 to block the spread of COVID-19. As the number of new cases dropped to the teens per day and most patients were found within the quarantine management system, the government shifted to a 'distancing in daily life' system from May 6, 45 days after the start of social distancing.

However, COVID-19 rapidly spread nationwide afterward, linked to Itaewon clubs, logistics centers, and door-to-door sales companies. Secondary transmissions occurred through academies, karaoke rooms, fitness facilities, and religious gatherings, and epidemiological investigations could not keep up with the speed of occurrences.

Recently, managing overseas inflows has become a key issue. In the past two weeks (June 6?19), 379 of the domestic confirmed cases were imported, accounting for 58% of cases during this period. This is due to the global spread of the pandemic, with daily confirmed cases worldwide reaching 259,848. According to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 real-time statistics site, as of 8:36 a.m. on this day, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide reached 14,418,568, with 604,401 deaths.

Meanwhile, as the spread in the metropolitan area has somewhat calmed, public facilities such as museums, art galleries, and libraries will reopen from today. Since May, the government has suspended operations of about 8,000 public facilities in the metropolitan area due to ongoing cluster infections.

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