Seongdong-gu Establishes Integrated Infectious Disease Surveillance System for New Infectious Disease Response

Operation of permanent screening clinics for emerging and re-emerging infectious disease disaster response after the COVID-19 pandemic
Development of a dedicated infectious disease information collection program for proactive prevention of new and variant infectious diseases
Establishment of local government-led infectious disease surveillance and response infrastructure for proactive containment

Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jung Won-oh) announced that it will establish the "Seongdong-type Integrated Infectious Disease Surveillance System" to prepare for new and re-emerging infectious diseases as well as the occurrence of endemic infectious disease clusters.

Since SARS in 2003, the cycle of new infectious disease outbreaks such as H1N1, MERS, and COVID-19 has been shortening, and there are growing concerns about the possibility of a new pandemic occurring in the near future.

Accordingly, the district has improved its infectious disease response system and embarked on building a local government-led integrated infectious disease surveillance system.

Seongdong-gu plans to promote the establishment and installation of a permanent screening clinic for proactive and professional response, the construction of an automated web-based infectious disease surveillance data collection system, the publication of monthly and special infectious disease newsletters, the operation of consultative bodies with local medical institutions and vulnerable facilities for infectious disease response, and the promotion of infectious disease prevention action manuals according to epidemic periods.

In particular, from March, a screening clinic will be installed and operated permanently at the Seongdong-gu Public Health Center. After the temporary COVID-19 screening clinic operation ended last year, the district focused on the increasing possibility of new and variant infectious disease outbreaks and began building infrastructure capable of responding from the early stages of infectious disease crises to long-term epidemics.

The screening clinic is equipped with two specimen booths, heating and cooling, and negative pressure facilities, and is installed as a mobile unit so that it can be relocated during future crisis situations for immediate response.

The main function is to respond to crisis situations such as the pandemic of new and re-emerging future infectious diseases (Disease X), and during normal times, it will also be used as a "respiratory specialty clinic" for patients with sample surveillance infectious diseases and respiratory infectious diseases such as measles and tuberculosis.

Additionally, Seongdong-gu has developed and operates a dedicated RPA program (a technology that automates repetitive tasks through robotic software) for infectious disease information collection, an early detection system for infectious diseases. It collects and analyzes domestic and international epidemic infectious disease occurrence information in real time, and actively utilizes the information by producing infectious disease newsletters and promoting infectious disease prevention at medical institutions.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, "We are doing our best to establish a systematic framework for infectious disease management and response to actively respond to future new infectious disease pandemic disaster crises," and added, "We will make more meticulous efforts to protect the safety and health of residents from the threat of future infectious diseases."

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