Yeongdeungpo-gu, Emergency On-site Inspection Following Confirmed Cases at Yoido Full Gospel Church

A man in his 40s living in Suwon, a church choir member, confirmed; no confirmed cases among Yeongdeungpo residents after investigation... District conducts disinfection around church and entire Yeouido area; strengthens disinfection in nearby commercial areas

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) launched an emergency on-site inspection and proactive response on the 17th to prevent a COVID-19 cluster infection related to confirmed cases at Yeouido Full Gospel Church.

At around 10 a.m. on the 17th, the district office was notified by Suwon City that one member of the Yeouido Full Gospel Church choir was confirmed positive for COVID-19.

Following this, upon receiving media reports about confirmed cases at Yeouido Full Gospel Church, the district quickly began preparing countermeasures.

Investigation revealed that the confirmed case is a man in his 40s residing in Suwon City, who attended the worship service and the third choir practice two days before symptom onset, on the 9th.

Aside from visiting the church on the 9th, the confirmed individual was found to have no movement within Yeongdeungpo, and it was confirmed that he wore a mask during choir practice.

With the church's cooperation, the district is conducting COVID-19 diagnostic tests for all 196 members of the third choir and is currently awaiting the results.

Additionally, to identify the infection route of the confirmed case, the district is collaborating with the Seoul epidemiological investigation team to conduct a detailed epidemiological investigation. Following disinfection of the entire Yeouido area on the 16th, additional disinfection around the church was carried out on the 17th.

The district sent text messages to the church advising all congregants to immediately get tested at the nearest public health center if symptoms appear and urged the implementation of stronger social distancing measures such as switching to online worship services.

Before this situation arose, starting from the morning of the 16th, the district held two emergency meetings on the same day in line with the elevation to social distancing level 2.

Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Chae Hyun-il instructed the relevant departments gathered at the meeting to prepare proactive testing and thorough quarantine measures for public facilities and private multi-use facilities.

Subsequently, the district conducted emergency on-site inspections at the public health center screening clinic and Costco Yangpyeong branch, a representative commercial area nearby. Mayor Chae Hyun-il first checked the operation status of the screening clinic at the forefront of quarantine efforts, then personally visited the busy Costco Yangpyeong branch during the weekend, meticulously inspecting compliance with quarantine rules such as ▲mask wearing ▲social distancing ▲disinfection.

It was confirmed that there are no confirmed cases among Yeongdeungpo residents related to Yeouido Full Gospel Church. Also, the total number of confirmed cases related to Yeouido Full Gospel Church is three, and reports by some media claiming that an additional 10 or so people were confirmed positive related to the church were found to be untrue.

Mayor Chae Hyun-il of Yeongdeungpo-gu stated, “Yeongdeungpo-gu is operating a 24-hour emergency response system and taking proactive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We will block community infections through thorough on-site inspections and strict quarantine measures to protect the lives and safety of our residents.”

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