WHO Urges Families and Relatives to Refrain from Hugging During Christmas Holidays

On the 6th, Japan reports 2,025 new COVID-19 cases, exceeding 2,000 for six consecutive days, raising concerns of healthcare system collapse

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] COVID-19 is spreading nationwide beyond the Seoul metropolitan area. As of midnight on the 8th, the number of new confirmed cases in South Korea was 594, fluctuating daily between 500 and 600.

Even looking at the weekly average daily local cases, an indicator used to assess the severity of the infectious disease outbreak, a steep increase is evident. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the daily average number of confirmed cases was only 122.4 during the second week of November (November 8?14), but then rose to 255.6 (November 15?21), 400.1 (November 22?28), and 487.9 (November 29?December 5).

In particular, the cumulative confirmed cases in Seoul reached 10,661, which, considering the total population of Seoul (9,720,846 as of June 30), means that more than one person per 1,000 has been infected.

Most notably, among the 7,218 new confirmed cases reported from November 24 to December 7, 1,286 cases had unknown infection routes, accounting for 17.8% of the total.

The health authorities described this as "the greatest crisis since the virus entered the country" and predicted that if the spread of COVID-19 is not contained despite raising the social distancing level to 2.5 in the metropolitan area, the number of new daily confirmed cases could reach 900 to 1,000 next week.

President Moon Jae-in said yesterday, "Now is the last critical moment to stop the spread of COVID-19," and ordered the deployment of all available personnel, including the military and police, to support on-site epidemiological investigations in the metropolitan area as an extraordinary measure.

In this regard, Gangnam-gu has been operating a "Smart Infectious Disease Management Center" since the 1st of this month to reduce the workload of quarantine personnel who have been fighting COVID-19 on the front lines for over 10 months and to provide a more comfortable working environment. This center was featured twice on KBS News on the 7th. It is the first in the country to allow everything from test registration to returning home to be completed with a single QR code, enabling over 1,000 specimen tests per day and attracting attention from other local governments.

In the United States, it took only five days to reach 1 million confirmed cases. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, from the 1st to the 5th, 1,000,882 new COVID-19 cases were reported. This explosive spread contrasts with the nearly 100 days it took to reach 1 million cases after the first patient was reported in the U.S. in February.

As of now, the cumulative confirmed cases in the U.S. exceed 14.6 million, with over 280,000 deaths. The problem is that the effects of Thanksgiving travel and various gatherings at the end of last month are just beginning to appear.

The situation in Japan is also serious. On the 6th, Japan reported 2,025 new COVID-19 cases, marking the sixth consecutive day with over 2,000 cases.

As the rapid increase in cases raised concerns about the collapse of the medical system, local governments requested the national government to dispatch Self-Defense Force nurses.

In Italy, the number of COVID-19 deaths surpassed 60,000 on the 6th (60,078 deaths). This is the reason why Italian health authorities imposed strict quarantine measures, including nighttime curfews and restrictions on interregional travel, starting from the 4th.

Russia, with 2.46 million cumulative confirmed cases?the fourth highest in the world?reported over 29,000 new cases on the 5th, with 7,512 cases in Moscow alone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged people to refrain from hugging family and relatives during the Christmas holiday period to prevent COVID-19.

Jung Soon-gyun, the district mayor, said, "I hope all residents will convey their greetings through 'Ontact' during this year-end and New Year period for the health and safety of themselves, their families, and their loved ones."

Confirmed Cases Status

From the previous day to today, confirmed cases numbered from 605 to 617. Cases 606, 607, 616, and 617 are family members of previously confirmed Gangnam-gu residents, while cases 613, 614, and 615 were confirmed positive at the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center after contact with confirmed cases from other regions.

Cases 608, 609, and 610 were confirmed positive at the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center today, but their infection routes are unknown and epidemiological investigations are underway. Cases 611 and 612 were confirmed at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital and Seodaemun-gu Public Health Center, respectively, and transferred to Guro. Case 605 was confirmed positive through a post-mortem test at Gangnam Severance Hospital yesterday.

Self-Quarantine Status

As of the 8th, Gangnam-gu is managing 2,045 self-quarantined individuals, of whom 1,137 are overseas arrivals and 908 are domestic contacts.

Number of Specimen Tests

The cumulative number of specimen tests at the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center screening clinic is 97,925. On the 7th, among 1,270 tested individuals, 146 were overseas arrivals and 1,124 were domestic residents.

From the 8th, social distancing level 2.5 has been applied in the metropolitan area for three weeks, resulting in the suspension of 130,000 business facilities and restrictions on the operation of 460,000 facilities. In this regard, Gangnam-gu has decided to provide emergency support of 500,000 KRW in public utility fees to small business owners with annual sales under 200 million KRW.

The application period is from the 14th of this month to January 20 of next year. Eligible recipients are advised to refer to the Gangnam-gu Office website and submit their applications.

Gangnam-gu has also implemented various support policies, including providing up to 4 million KRW in store reopening support funds per business to small business owners who had to temporarily close due to visits by confirmed COVID-19 cases, and offering interest-free loans for one year totaling 45.4 billion KRW to 354 small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners through the Small and Medium Business Development Fund.

Additionally, from the 8th, face-to-face classes at 2,772 academies and private institutes in the district, excluding college entrance exam academies, will be suspended.

Gangnam-gu has been providing sequential college entrance exam review lectures through the Internet College Entrance Exam Broadcasting Station since the 4th, and from the 9th for three days, will hold admission briefing sessions for major universities in the metropolitan area as well as medical, dental, and oriental medicine schools to strategize for regular admissions.

Gangnam Online Academy offers about 900 courses covering six years of middle and high school curricula for an annual fee of 50,000 KRW. The lectures are delivered by 70 instructors, including teachers from prestigious special-purpose high schools, instructors from Daechi-dong, and EBS lecturers, allowing middle and high school students to access them without burden. Students are encouraged to make full use of this resource.

Meanwhile, a man in his 70s who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in September and received treatment reportedly recovered after being administered a domestically produced plasma treatment, attracting attention.

Regarding vaccines, the government has decided to pre-purchase up to 44 million doses of overseas-developed vaccines through global vaccine companies, with phased introductions expected as early as February next year. This development raises hopes for the realization of vaccine and treatment development and distribution to end COVID-19.

District Mayor Jung said, "Expectations for vaccines and treatments are growing, but it will likely take considerable time before they are commercially available. I ask all residents to remember that wearing masks and practicing social distancing are the best 'preventive vaccines' to stop the spread of the virus."

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