Gyeonggi-do Conducts Proactive COVID-19 Testing at Entertainment Venues and Academies... Once a Week

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] In response to the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in the Seoul metropolitan area, Gyeonggi Province will conduct proactive testing for workers in entertainment facilities, academies, and other sectors, and provide self-test kits to workplaces with a high risk of infection spread.

On the 29th, Lim Seung-gwan, head of Gyeonggi Province's COVID-19 Emergency Response Team, held a regular press conference and said, "We are facing the challenge of an increase in confirmed cases ahead of changes to social distancing policies." He explained, "Between June 22 and 28, the nationwide number of new infections was 11.0 per 1 million people, but the Seoul metropolitan area reported 16.8 infections per 1 million, which is more than three times higher than the 5.2 infections per 1 million in non-metropolitan areas."

After the first index patient was confirmed positive at an English academy in Seongnam City on the 22nd, related individuals were tested, and it was confirmed that native-speaking instructors were also infected. While investigating the movement paths of the native-speaking instructors, it was found that they had visited a restaurant in Mapo-gu on June 19 along with native-speaking instructors from other language academies, leading to diagnostic testing being conducted for the related academies.

Additionally, a cluster infection centered on native-speaking instructors occurred at an English academy in Uijeongbu City, prompting an epidemiological investigation. It was confirmed that the index patients of this cluster had also visited the same restaurant in Mapo-gu on June 19. Therefore, the investigation proceeded by including this as the same cluster.

In response to the increase in confirmed cases in the metropolitan area, the province plans to conduct regular proactive testing for vulnerable industries and focus on prevention using self-test kits.

First, proactive testing will be conducted once a week for business owners and workers in entertainment facilities and academies, where recent spread trends have been observed. In addition, self-test kits will be provided to workplaces with high infection frequency and high risk of infection spread, such as call centers and logistics centers.

On the other hand, among the elderly, who were prioritized for vaccination, confirmed cases and deaths have sharply decreased. The proportion of infected individuals aged 75 and older among confirmed cases in Gyeonggi Province was 5.32% in April, decreased to 3.80% in May, and further dropped to 2.36% in June. In the past week, it was 1.18%.

As of midnight on the 29th, the total number of confirmed cases in Gyeonggi Province increased by 230 from the previous day to 43,819.

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