Gyeonggi-do Reports 78% of COVID-19 Infections Among Childcare Center Infants and Toddlers Are 'Family Transmission'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] It was found that 78% of COVID-19 infection routes among infants and toddlers in daycare centers in Gyeonggi-do were due to family transmission.

Gyeonggi-do announced on the 22nd that an analysis of the infection routes of COVID-19 confirmed infants and toddlers in daycare centers across the province from the 1st to the 19th of this month showed that 'family transmission' cases accounted for 78.4%.

During this period, a total of 184 confirmed cases occurred in daycare centers in the province, of which 162 (88%) were infants and toddlers, and 22 (12%) were childcare staff.

Looking at the infection routes of the 162 confirmed infant and toddler cases, 127 (78.4%) were family, 17 (10.5%) were fellow enrolled children, 13 (8.0%) were acquaintances or unknown routes, and 5 (3.1%) were childcare staff.

Since vaccination is difficult for infants and toddlers, Gyeonggi-do urged caregivers to actively conduct proactive testing and get vaccinated.

As of the 7th, 72.2% of the approximately 95,000 daycare center staff in the province have completed vaccination, and proactive testing is being conducted once a month for all personnel, the province explained.

To encourage proactive testing among caregivers of infants and toddlers, the province recommended on the 22nd of last month that at least one person among the child’s guardian or cohabiting family members using emergency childcare undergo proactive testing once a month.

A provincial official stated, "In cities and counties where group infections have occurred, we will expand proactive testing for daycare center staff to twice a month and strengthen monitoring, doing our best to prepare countermeasures to prevent further spread."

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