Gwangyang City Reports 5 New COVID-19 Cases... 8 Cases Confirmed During Holiday Period

Concerns Over Chain Infection at Jungmadong 'Hamkkehaneun Church'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Despite the government's strengthened quarantine measures during the year-end and New Year holidays, five confirmed cases have occurred in Gwangyang City.

All five confirmed cases, Gwangyang numbers 71 to 75 (Jeonnam numbers 545 to 549), are contacts of confirmed cases from the ‘Hamkkehaneun Church’ in Jungmadong.

Gwangyang City is on alert as eight confirmed cases have occurred since the 68th case was reported on the 25th during this holiday period.

The 68th confirmed case is understood to have attended a meeting with other church members at the ‘Hamkkehaneun Church’ located in Jungmadong, Gwangyang City, to prepare for a Christmas performance, and the number of confirmed cases increased during the process of conducting a full investigation targeting the church members.

Mayor Jeong Hyun-bok said in an emergency briefing, “The government announced the ‘Year-end and New Year Quarantine Strengthening Special Measures’ and urged compliance with quarantine rules allowing only non-face-to-face services such as regular worship, mass, and Buddhist ceremonies at religious facilities.” He added, “However, in our city, many new asymptomatic confirmed cases with unknown infection routes have occurred in religious facilities that did not follow quarantine rules, causing a chain infection in the local community.”

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