"Suspected Ventilation Ducts" ... 32 Confirmed Cases in 'Dark' Cluster Infection at Guro-gu Apartment

No Virus Found in Samples Collected from Ventilation Ducts... Sewers and Elevators Also Investigated

An information notice related to the confirmed case of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is posted on an apartment in Guro-gu, Seoul, on the 27th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The ventilation ducts connecting the units above and below were suspected as the transmission route of the COVID-19 cluster infection that occurred in an apartment in Guro-gu, Seoul, but all samples collected from these ducts tested negative. The quarantine authorities have started re-investigating the possibility that the virus spread through sewage pipes or elevators rather than the ventilation ducts.

On the 27th, Guro-gu announced that it collected 14 samples from the ventilation ducts of five households where confirmed cases appeared in the apartment with the cluster infection and sent them to a specialized institution for testing, all of which tested negative for the COVID-19 virus.

The district office initially focused on the fact that confirmed cases occurred on the same line in the units above and below when the initial confirmed case appeared and raised the possibility of infection through the ventilation ducts. However, on the 26th, two newly confirmed residents in the same building were found on floors far apart, and since they were located next door to the existing confirmed cases, the investigation is ongoing with various possibilities open, such as infection through elevator use rather than ventilation ducts.

The apartment has a 'ㄷ'-shaped structure from the 11th to the 15th floor, with about 20 households residing on each floor. From the 23rd to the 26th, confirmed cases appeared only on line 5, with three households on the lower floors and two households on the upper floors testing positive, and on the 27th, two confirmed cases appeared on different floors of the adjacent line 6.

There are two elevators operating at both ends of the corridor, and since the two lines where confirmed cases reside are concentrated on one side, it is highly likely that they used the same elevator. As of 6 p.m. on the 27th, a total of 32 people, including residents of this apartment and their coworkers who had contact with them, have been confirmed positive.

At a briefing that day, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH), explained, "We are not considering the possibility of infection through the apartment ventilation ducts to be very high." The Guro-gu office also stated, "Since the households with confirmed cases until the 26th were on the same line, the possibility of transmission through ventilation ducts was raised for the safety of residents," and added, "Based on the CDCH analysis and the ventilation duct sample test results, it seems necessary to investigate other transmission possibilities more thoroughly."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is currently conducting a joint investigation with epidemiology, architecture, and facility experts at this apartment.

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