"Increase in New COVID-19 Cases Not Due to Easing of Social Distancing...Temporary Rise, Possible Anytime"

COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Backbriefing
40 More Cases Than Previous Day "Temporary Increase Possible, Need to Monitor Trend"
Daegu and Gyeongbuk Take Another Month to Stay Below 50 Cases After Outbreak

A confirmed case of COVID-19 occurred at Kia Motors' Gwangmyeong Sohari Plant, leading to a temporary suspension of factory operations. As of midnight on the 17th, Gyeonggi Province health authorities reported 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases related to the Kia Sohari Plant. The photo shows the main gate of the Sohari Plant on that day. / Gwangmyeong - Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Regarding the increase of several dozen new daily confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the government does not believe it is due to the relaxation of social distancing measures. Since small-scale cluster infections are emerging here and there, temporary fluctuations can occur at any time.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters' quarantine team at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said at a back briefing on the 17th, "We judge that the overall trend has been decreasing since last week, but temporary increases can occur." According to the quarantine authorities, as of 0:00 that day, the number of new confirmed cases was 153 (including an estimated 8 imported cases), an increase of 40 from the previous day. This marks a consecutive two-day increase following the previous day, despite the implementation of level 2.5 social distancing measures until the past weekend, with new confirmed cases not decreasing but increasing.

Yoon said, "When sporadic cluster infections occur, the number of confirmed cases tends to temporarily increase depending on how many there are," adding, "We need to observe the trend to see whether the number of patients will increase further."

On the 15th, when ticket reservations for the Suseo High-Speed Railway (SRT) Chuseok holiday trains began, related notices were displayed at SRT Suseo Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. This year, due to concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), reservations are conducted 100% online, and only window seats can be reserved to maintain social distancing. On this day, 10% of all seats are preferentially allocated to the elderly and disabled, with reservations available through the website and phone. For the general public, advance sales for the Gyeongbu Line tickets will be held on the 16th, and for the Honam Line on the 17th. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

He also said, "It has only been 3 to 4 days since the social distancing measures were relaxed to level 2," and "The effect of social distancing is judged to appear at the earliest after ten days, usually after two weeks." This means that to see the effect of the measures that significantly restricted restaurant and cafe operations, it will take at least until late this week or next week. The government’s judgment is that more observation is needed since it took about 40 days for the number of new confirmed cases to drop below 50 in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, which previously experienced a major outbreak.

The decision on whether to extend the level 2 social distancing measures applied in non-metropolitan areas is expected to be made and announced around the coming weekend. The level 2 quarantine measures applied in non-metropolitan areas are in effect until the 20th. In the metropolitan area, the level 2.5 measures ended on the 13th and were relaxed to level 2. Son Young-rae, head of the Strategic Planning Team at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said, "Since Chuseok is only a week away, we are discussing it considering that," adding, "The announcement is planned for the weekend, and it will mainly focus on short-term measures regarding how to respond before one week prior to Chuseok."

Yoon Tae-ho urged people to refrain from traveling during the holiday period, saying, "There is a risk of exposure to infection when staying at resorts or moving around, and going to resorts implies that people are gathering densely nearby." He added, "During the May holidays and early August summer vacations, movement was more active than usual, increasing the risk of nationwide spread," and emphasized, "Refraining from movement is not only applicable to hometown visits but also means staying at home as much as possible."

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