A Man in His 70s Who Hid Participation in Rally and Infected 7 People Faces Claim for Over 70 Million Won in Compensation

[Image source = Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Cheongju City announced that it will claim damages from a confirmed COVID-19 patient who caused a cluster infection of seven people by hiding attendance at the Gwanghwamun rally and hospitalization. The initial claim amount reaches about 70 million KRW.

On the 11th, Cheongju City stated that it will proceed with the claim procedure against Mr. A (Chungbuk No. 127, Cheongju No. 59), who concealed his participation in the August 15 Gwanghwamun rally and disobeyed the COVID-19 testing order.

Mr. A was recommended to undergo diagnostic testing based on the list of rally participants but refused the test citing asymptomatic status, only admitting to attending the rally after being confirmed positive.

So far, seven people are presumed to have been infected by Mr. A, including six within Chungbuk Province such as family members and one in Daejeon. After an in-depth investigation, Chungcheongbuk-do concluded that Mr. A is the index confirmed case of the chain infection and warned that it will claim related costs such as testing and treatment fees.

The estimated initial claim amount, including hospitalization treatment fees for the confirmed patient, living support funds for those in self-quarantine, and testing fees, amounts to about 70 million KRW.

It is known that once the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters finalizes the criteria for filing claims currently under discussion, the exact amount will be calculated based on those criteria and a supplementary claim will be made.

Meanwhile, local governments across the country continue to claim damages from confirmed patients who caused local COVID-19 infections. Changwon City in Gyeongnam filed a lawsuit for 300 million KRW against a man in his 40s who concealed his rally attendance and infected seven additional people, and Gwangju Metropolitan City is also planning to file a lawsuit worth around 200 million KRW against a Seoul confirmed patient who hid their movement history.

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