"No Pause, We Do It Ourselves" ... Gijang-gun to Directly Operate 'Jeonggwan Temporary Screening Clinic'

Operation with own budget until March 31

Real-name testing for Gijang residents starting from the 22nd

Testing is being conducted at the temporary screening clinic at Jeonggwan Health Center in Gijang-gun, Busan.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Basic local governments will directly extend the operation of temporary COVID-19 screening clinics that have been suspended.

Busan's Gijang-gun has decided to directly operate the temporary screening clinic at Jeonggwan Health Center with its own budget until the end of March.

It will operate on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (excluding lunch break from 12 to 1 p.m.) and will not operate on weekends and public holidays.

Since February 15, when Busan's social distancing was adjusted to level 1.5, Busan City suspended the operation of the Jeonggwan Health Center temporary screening clinic as of the 14th.

However, Gijang-gun Mayor Oh Gyu-seok decided to continue operating the temporary screening clinic to block the spread of COVID-19 and respond proactively.

Following the mayor's directive, Gijang-gun has been independently operating the Jeonggwan Health Center temporary screening clinic since the 15th.

From the 15th, only symptomatic individuals were tested, but recently, the Central Disease Control Headquarters issued guidelines allowing local governments to autonomously operate tests for asymptomatic individuals and those without epidemiological links using local government funds. Therefore, from the 22nd, the operation method will be changed.

The Jeonggwan Health Center temporary screening clinic allows any Gijang-gun resident wishing to undergo a COVID-19 diagnostic test to be tested regardless of symptoms or epidemiological links.

All expenses, including labor costs, operating costs, and testing fees, are covered by the county budget, so the service is limited to Gijang-gun residents.

Also, according to the guidelines of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the clinic operates as a real-name test collecting information such as name, date of birth, and phone number.

The testing method will continue to be the nasopharyngeal swab PCR test, which has the highest accuracy among diagnostic tests.

The Jeonggwan Health Center temporary screening clinic started operation on January 1 and has conducted a total of 5,952 tests so far, detecting 9 infected individuals, contributing to early detection of asymptomatic infections and blocking community spread.

Mayor Oh said, “We are currently at war with COVID-19. It is important to mobilize all administrative power to test even one more person and find hidden infections that are invisible. COVID-19 vaccination and operation of temporary screening clinics must be carried out simultaneously.”

On the 19th, 1,134 COVID-19 tests were conducted at the Gijang-gun Health Center screening clinic and 24 tests at the Jeonggwan Health Center temporary screening clinic, all of which were negative.

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