Prime Minister Jeong: "Daily Confirmed Cases Reach Record High of 1,241... Strengthening Measures for Asymptomatic Patients" (Update)

"Reinspection of Quarantine Measures in Military and Correctional Facilities... Strict Response to Quarantine Rule Violations"

Prime Minister Jeong Sye-kyun

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Prime Minister Jeong Segun announced on the 25th, "Unfortunately, a large-scale outbreak occurred again at the Seoul Eastern Detention Center yesterday, following one a week ago, pushing the daily number of confirmed cases to a record high of 1,241."

At the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting on COVID-19 response held at the Government Seoul Office Building that day, Prime Minister Jeong said, "When confirmed cases occur in places where people live collectively in confined spaces, it is difficult to avoid large-scale infection outbreaks."

He urged, "In places with collective living such as the military and correctional facilities, please re-examine the quarantine situation and strengthen measures to detect asymptomatic infected individuals who may be present."

Prime Minister Jeong explained, "It has been ten days since temporary screening clinics were set up in the metropolitan area. The daily diagnostic test volume has exceeded 110,000, and through citizens' voluntary participation, more than 1,000 confirmed cases have been identified over 11 days, helping to curb the spread of COVID-19."

He added, "As the effectiveness of quarantine measures has been confirmed, local governments operating temporary screening clinics in Busan, Daegu, Pohang, and other areas are gradually increasing. The CDSCH requests support to further expand daily testing capacity to enable sufficient diagnostic testing."

Prime Minister Jeong pointed out, "Recent joint government inspection teams checking on-site quarantine conditions revealed that many places still do not properly follow quarantine rules. There were restaurants that accepted customers after 9 p.m. with doors locked, and bars caught secretly operating with their sign lights turned off."

He continued, "While the majority of citizens faithfully follow the government's quarantine standards despite inconvenience and hardship, if even a few try to exploit loopholes for their own benefit, the effect of 'participatory quarantine' will be difficult to expect. Quarantine authorities and local governments must strictly respond to violations of quarantine rules that threaten community safety."

Prime Minister Jeong emphasized, "The last week starting from Christmas is usually a time when close people gather and share affection, but this year, due to COVID-19, such scenes are hard to find anywhere in the world. I hope all public officials nationwide will unite their efforts to protect quarantine sites during the holiday period, thinking of this special quarantine reinforcement period as the final hurdle from the 'winter of hardship' to the 'spring of hope.'"

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