COVID-19 Cases Surge to '300'... President Moon's Emergency Visit to Seoul Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] On the morning of the 21st, President Moon Jae-in visited Seoul City Hall to conduct an urgent inspection of the COVID-19 quarantine situation in Seoul and the metropolitan area. This was because the number of new confirmed cases surged to the 300s the previous day, making this weekend a critical turning point for the re-spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area, prompting special requests.

According to the Blue House, President Moon's visit to Seoul City on this day was an emergency decision not originally scheduled, carried out with a minimal number of personnel. It appears that the fact that the position of Seoul Mayor is vacant was also taken into consideration.

At around 10:40 a.m., President Moon visited the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Situation Room on the 3rd floor of Seoul City Hall and listened to a report on the quarantine status from Acting Mayor of Seoul Seo Jeong-yeop in front of the status board.

Then, moving to the conference room, President Moon urged Seoul quarantine officials to do their best to prevent the nationwide spread of COVID-19, which is showing signs of re-spreading mainly in the metropolitan area. During the approximately 20-minute closed-door report, President Moon received a briefing on Seoul's quarantine measures from Acting Mayor Seo. Afterwards, reports on quarantine measures in related fields were given in order by Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education; Kim Chang-ryong, Commissioner of the National Police Agency; Kim Gye-jo, Director of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters; and Kwon Jun-wook, Director of the National Institute of Health.

To check the on-site situation, phone connections were also made. President Moon and other meeting participants were connected by phone with Choi Jae-pil, Director of Infection Control at Seoul Medical Center, to hear an explanation about the status of securing hospital beds in the metropolitan area. Due to the surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases in Seoul and the metropolitan area, securing hospital beds is also in an emergency situation. In addition, phone connections were made to epidemiologists at private hospitals and officials from the Seongbuk-gu Public Health Center, where Sarang Jeil Church is located, to check the on-site situation.

Those attending the schedule included Acting Mayor Seo, Kim Woo-young, Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul, and other Seoul city officials, as well as Choi Jae-sung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs; Yoon Chang-ryeol, Senior Secretary for Social Affairs; and Yoo Dae-young, Secretary for Local Autonomy Development from the Blue House.

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