A Story of Overcoming COVID-19 in Eunpyeong-gu with Help from Police, Military, and Seoul City...?

Seoul City, Military, and Police Cooperation Ensures Thorough Epidemiological Investigation Management Amid COVID-19 Pandemic... Blocking Links Between Increasing Confirmed Cases and Additional Contacts Through Epidemiological Investigation

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] In December last year, as COVID-19 cases increased mainly in the metropolitan area, epidemiological investigations by autonomous districts also faced an emergency.

With the highest number of confirmed cases ever recorded, each district's epidemiological investigation team would have faced great difficulties in quarantine efforts without additional support personnel.

In fact, Eunpyeong-gu (District Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) was able to swiftly investigate and take measures against the increasing confirmed cases with the cooperation of Seoul city administrative staff, police personnel from Eunpyeong Police Station and Seobu Police Station, and military forces from the 11th Battalion of the 3rd Airborne Brigade.

These support personnel were deployed for in-depth epidemiological investigations, including telephone interviews with confirmed cases and their contacts.

The support from the police, military units, and Seoul city administrative staff was a great help to Eunpyeong-gu. In December, during the third wave of COVID-19, 443 confirmed cases occurred within the district, accounting for 42.8% of the cumulative 1,035 investigated individuals (as of February 4, 2021, including 'Seoul City Others').

During the period of rapid increase in confirmed cases, it was possible to prevent exhaustion among the existing public health center's in-depth epidemiological investigation personnel and to endure the unprecedented workload.

In particular, the support personnel also worked on weekends and public holidays as duty staff, which was a great help. During the process of newly establishing the epidemiological investigation team within the public health center, the continuous deployment of support personnel through extended dispatch or new replacements from the city, county, and police added stability to the team’s establishment.

Meanwhile, since March last year, Eunpyeong-gu has formed joint inspection teams of two-person units in close cooperation with about 200 police officers from Eunpyeong Police Station and Seobu Police Station, visiting religious facilities during religious activity times to check compliance with quarantine rules.

Although some time has passed since the implementation of Level 2.5 social distancing, the spread in the metropolitan area has not subsided. Recently, after maintaining additional nationwide confirmed cases in the 300s, the trend is showing a rebound, so vigilance cannot be relaxed.

However, having experienced the third wave of COVID-19 last December, Eunpyeong-gu, while worried ahead of the Seollal holiday, holds hope that the epidemic can be overcome thanks to the support personnel from the police, military, and Seoul city after the major outbreak.

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong-gu, stated, “At a time when tension is rising ahead of the nation’s biggest holiday, the Seollal holiday, the presence of the police, military forces, and Seoul city support personnel feels even more reassuring,” adding, “Together with the support personnel helping Eunpyeong, we will focus on more thorough quarantine measures to ensure the safety of residents.”

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