Gwangju City Holds Emergency Meeting of the Gwangju Public-Private Joint Countermeasures Committee on COVID-19

Implementation of Dedicated System for 5 District Offices and 268 Infection-Vulnerable Facilities

Mayor Lee Yong-seop: "Let Medical Staff, Workers, and Citizens Unite to Overcome the Crisis"

On the afternoon of the 4th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, presided over the 'COVID-19 Public-Private Joint Countermeasures Committee' meeting held in the city council's main conference room. The meeting was attended by Kim Yong-jip, Chairman of the City Council, Jang Hwi-guk, Superintendent of the City Education Office, heads of five district offices, members of the public-private joint countermeasures committee, the chairman of the nursing facility association, and directors of major hospitals, totaling about 20 participants. They discussed response measures to the spread of COVID-19. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] On the afternoon of the 4th, Gwangju Metropolitan City held the Gwangju Public-Private Joint Countermeasure Committee against COVID-19 in the city council's main conference room and decided that the Gwangju community would take strong measures to block the recent large-scale spread of COVID-19 centered on nursing hospitals.

On this day, the Public-Private Joint Countermeasure Committee, attended by about 20 people including Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, Kim Yong-jip, Chairman of the Gwangju City Council, Jang Hwi-guk, Superintendent of Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, heads of five autonomous districts, public-private joint countermeasure committee members, chairman of the nursing facility association, and directors of major hospitals, shared the recent situation and focused on discussing countermeasures.

At the meeting, it was first decided that the five district offices in the Gwangju area would implement a dedicated system for 268 vulnerable facilities in their jurisdictions to more meticulously guide and inspect compliance with quarantine rules.

Also, when violations of quarantine rules are confirmed, the facility owners and workers who violated them will be strictly punished through a strict punishment committee chaired by the vice mayor, and if violators of quarantine rules are treated with leniency, responsibility will be held through audits.

Along with this, the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency agreed to strengthen responses to people who violate self-quarantine rules and leave their quarantine locations.

The Nursing Facility Association and the Association of Facilities for the Disabled decided to encourage facilities in the jurisdiction to share the current situation in real time and to strictly comply with quarantine rules with heightened awareness.

The attendees said, “Since December 21 last year, 77 residents have been confirmed positive in two nursing homes and nursing hospitals. The elderly there are completely isolated, and due to their age and inability to keep distance from others on their own, it is highly likely that the virus was transmitted from outside through workers and medical staff,” and added, “Workers and medical staff need a very high sense of professionalism, ethics, and compliance with quarantine rules.”

Therefore, they agreed that it is most important at this point to prevent the recurrence of group infection cases in other nursing hospitals and similar facilities, and decided to focus on guiding medical staff and workers to be more vigilant and comply with quarantine rules.

Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju, said, “The first half of the year until vaccines and treatments are available is a major hurdle. Our city is responding actively to COVID-19 with the highest level of tension and vigilance, but the current situation is difficult to achieve results without active cooperation from citizens,” and added, “I hope the related organizations attending will implement thorough and meticulous quarantine measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable facilities.”

Meanwhile, Hea-rim Nursing Hospital in Buk-gu, designated as an infectious disease-dedicated nursing hospital, has secured 30 beds and 81 medical staff and will exclusively treat confirmed cases from nursing facilities starting from the 6th.

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