Around 40 Cluster Infections Occur Weekly Over the Past Month... Individual Cluster Sizes Are Growing Larger

On the 8th, medical staff are guiding citizens at the COVID-19 screening clinic set up at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] It has been revealed that cluster infections of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in workplaces have recently increased significantly. Cluster infections in medical institutions and nursing facilities, which are considered vulnerable to infection, also remained high. The quarantine authorities announced that they will focus on enhancing epidemiological investigation capabilities and conducting more active diagnostic testing to find 'hidden transmitters.'

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters' classification of cluster infections identified over the past four weeks, there were 32 cluster infections in the 49th week (November 29 to December 5). The most frequent were cluster infections occurring within workplaces, with 9 cases. Previously, workplace cluster infections were about 2 to 5 cases per week, but they increased considerably last week.

Other cases included 7 cluster infections in medical institutions and nursing facilities, and 7 cluster infections through family and acquaintances gatherings. Additionally, there were 5 cluster infections in multi-use facilities, 3 in religious facilities, and 1 in educational facilities.

During this period, a total of 982 patients were classified as cluster infection cases, with the number of patients in a single cluster reaching up to 31. Compared to the 46th week (November 8?14), which was in early to mid-last month, the size of individual outbreak clusters more than doubled. At that time, there were 38 cluster infection cases and 455 patients, with an average cluster size of about 12 patients, meaning that the number of patients per cluster increased by nearly 20. Additionally, there were 45 cluster infections in the 47th week (November 15?21) and 40 in the 48th week (November 22?28).

On the 8th, installation work for 'container temporary beds' to secure treatment beds for COVID-19 was underway at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

On this day’s briefing, Kwon Jun-wook, the 2nd Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said, "Despite various strengthened quarantine measures in medical institutions and nursing facilities, recent occurrences have increased. We understand that as the source of infection spreads in the community, patients are eventually appearing in medical institutions and nursing facilities, which are the final resting places of silent transmission."

The quarantine authorities plan to soon introduce additional measures, including lowering the threshold for COVID-19 diagnostic testing and strengthening epidemiological investigations. From this day, social distancing was raised to level 2.5 in the metropolitan area and level 2 in other regions. In addition to these measures, it was judged necessary to concurrently conduct patient and contact tracing management.

Deputy Director Kwon said, "In addition to the existing RT-PCR tests, we will actively utilize saliva tests and rapid antigen tests that can be used proactively and selectively to find infection sources in advance and prevent many patients from occurring in high-risk facilities."

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