Military Personnel Deployed to Quarantine Sites for 2 Months

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter]Military medical personnel and Army Special Forces officers will be fully deployed to the COVID-19 response sites in the Seoul metropolitan area starting from the 14th.

According to the Army, 379 Special Forces officers selected as outstanding workers will support administrative tasks such as epidemiological investigation data entry and management, notification of epidemiological investigation subjects, and specimen transportation at 78 public health centers (26 in Seoul, 44 in Gyeonggi, and 8 in Incheon) within the metropolitan area starting today. The support period is scheduled to last about two months.

The officers received practical training related to support tasks from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 10th before being deployed to the public health centers, and they also underwent COVID-19 testing in advance.

The Ministry of National Defense announced that from the same day, 74 personnel including 56 military doctors and 18 nursing staff will be dispatched to temporary screening clinics in the metropolitan area. Additionally, on the 16th, 486 administrative personnel composed of local unit soldiers will be further supported.

This dispatch of military medical staff and Special Forces officers is in response to the spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area.

Earlier, on the 7th, President Moon Jae-in instructed, "Prepare to deploy available personnel such as public officials, military, and police to on-site epidemiological investigations starting this week." Given the serious COVID-19 situation in the metropolitan area, it is known that additional military personnel may be dispatched depending on the situation.

Meanwhile, there are no additional confirmed COVID-19 cases. This brings the total cumulative number of confirmed cases in the military to 451. Among them, 357 have recovered, including 9 who were classified as recovered yesterday, and 94 are still undergoing treatment.

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