From 12 AM on the 19th, Level 1.5 Raised... Dancing and Seat Moving Prohibited in Clubs

Health Authorities Warn That While Young People Often Have Asymptomatic or Mild Cases, Their Wide Social Activities Increase the Risk of Virus Spread

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Despite emergency measures being implemented worldwide in response to the resurgence of COVID-19, the situation continues to worsen.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University as of the 15th, the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States reached 11,000,984, increasing by 1 million in just six days after surpassing 10 million on the 9th.

President-elect Joe Biden’s advisory committee expressed concern, stating, “It would not be surprising to see over 200,000 new cases per day in the coming weeks.”

European countries such as the United Kingdom and Italy are also struggling with the resurgence of COVID-19. On the 16th, The Wall Street Journal reported that in Germany, the number of confirmed cases has recently surged, and the infection routes of three out of every four confirmed cases remain unidentified.

In France and Italy, only about 20% of confirmed cases had identified infection routes, and Spain managed to trace infection routes for just 7% of cases in the last week of the previous month.

Austria, which reported that 77% of confirmed cases had unknown infection routes, entered a high-intensity lockdown from the 17th until the 7th of next month for three weeks.

In South Korea, where daily new cases have exceeded 200 for four consecutive days, the situation is worsening as confirmed cases continue to emerge in familiar living spaces such as family or acquaintances’ gatherings and workplaces.

The spread is particularly centered among younger people aged 40 and below. In fact, from the 11th of last month to the 7th of this month, half of the new confirmed cases were aged 40 or younger.

The proportion of this age group increased by 10.8 percentage points to 49.1%, compared to 38.3% in the previous month.

Health authorities warn that since many young people are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, it is difficult to identify infected individuals, but their wide social activity increases the risk of further spread.

Additionally, the proportion of COVID-19 confirmed cases with unknown infection sources is rising. In the recent week’s quarantine management data, 158 out of 1,054 cases (15%) are under investigation for infection routes, nearly double the 8.1% recorded a month ago.

The government held a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on the morning of the 17th and decided to raise social distancing in the metropolitan area from level 1 to level 1.5 starting at midnight on the 19th.

Accordingly, dancing and seat movement are prohibited in clubs, and small restaurants and cafes must maintain a distance of 1 meter or install table partitions.

Wedding halls, funeral homes, and academies will have capacity limits based on area, and movie theaters and performance venues must space seats apart from other groups. Sports viewing and religious activities will be limited to 30% of capacity.

With four additional confirmed cases in Gangnam-gu on the day, the cumulative number of confirmed cases reached 400. Residents are urged to remember that reducing contact with others is the most effective preventive measure and to actively comply with social distancing policies.

Gangnam-gu reported four new cases on the day, bringing the total to 400. Cases 397 and 400 were infected through contact with confirmed cases from other regions, case 398 was confirmed at Gangnam-gu Public Health Center after arriving from overseas, and case 399 tested positive at the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center due to symptoms such as coughing but is under epidemiological investigation as the infection route is unknown.

Status of Self-Quarantine

As of the 17th, Gangnam-gu is managing 941 individuals in self-quarantine, including 728 overseas arrivals and 213 domestic contacts.

Number of Tests Conducted

The cumulative number of tests conducted at Gangnam-gu Public Health Center’s screening clinic is 79,077. Among the 407 tested yesterday, 67 were overseas arrivals and 340 were domestic residents.

The government has decided to operate a ‘Special COVID-19 Prevention Period for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT)’ starting from the 19th in preparation for the CSAT scheduled for the 3rd of next month. During this period, if confirmed cases occur in academies attended by examinees, the real names of the academies and infection routes will be disclosed.

Jung Soon-gyun, the district mayor, stated, “As Gangnam-gu previously conducted proactive testing for instructors working at 3,075 academies in the area, we will continue to work with the education office to ensure that quarantine guidelines are strictly followed in educational institutions within the district to protect the health and safety of all examinees until the day of the CSAT.”

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