Confirmed Cases Surge, Busan Exceeds 60 Again... Second Time Last Year, Sixth Consecutive Cluster Infection Spread This Year

Passengers wearing masks are lined up in a long queue boarding at the domestic departure hall of Busan Gimhae Airport.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Amid ongoing chain group infections across Busan in entertainment bars, karaoke rooms, schools, and workplaces, raising alarms for quarantine measures, 63 new confirmed cases were reported in a single day.

According to Busan city health authorities on the 14th, 63 people tested positive for COVID-19 in one day, including 3 in the afternoon of the 13th and 60 in the morning of the 14th.

The number of daily confirmed cases exceeding 60 in Busan has occurred eight times in total: December 12, last year (82 cases), December 31 (69 cases), March 30 and April 3 this year (63 cases each), April 2 (65 cases), July 9 (62 cases), and July 13 (65 cases).

Regarding entertainment bars, 10 additional cases were confirmed, including 1 visitor and 9 contacts. The cumulative confirmed cases related to this are now 156 across 21 establishments (72 visitors, 27 employees, 57 contacts).

Seven more cases were confirmed related to karaoke rooms. The total confirmed cases in karaoke rooms currently stand at 39 across 4 establishments (21 visitors, 4 employees, 14 contacts).

At a workplace in Jung-gu, 1 employee and 1 contact tested positive, bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 19 (9 employees, 10 contacts).

At a workplace in Haeundae-gu, 1 contact tested positive, increasing the total confirmed cases to 8 (6 employees, 2 contacts).

Following the investigation of 179 students and staff at a high school in Buk-gu, where 2 students were confirmed positive the previous day, 1 additional student tested positive on this day.

One elementary school student in Dongnae-gu tested positive while in quarantine, bringing the total confirmed cases at the school to 5 students.

Among the confirmed cases on this day, 9 were students (5 high school, 2 middle school, 2 elementary school).

Additionally, 17 cases with unknown infection sources ('dark cases'), 2 acquaintances of confirmed cases from Gyeonggi Province, 1 family member and 1 contact of a confirmed case from Gimhae City, 1 contact each of confirmed cases from Changwon City and Yangsan City, and 1 individual who entered from Indonesia also tested positive.

The remaining confirmed cases were identified as family members or contacts of existing confirmed cases.

Busan city is conducting epidemiological investigations to identify the movements, contacts, and any special circumstances of the confirmed cases.

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