Daegu City Implements Special Quarantine Measures for Daycare Centers and Kindergartens to Curb Omicron Spread...

by Lee Seryeong

Published 29 Dec.2021 12:01(KST)

Updated 10 Aug.2025 19:48(KST)

Support of 13,000 Self-Test Kits, Early Implementation of 3rd Vaccination for Faculty and Staff

Daegu City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Trainee Reporter Lee Seryeong] Daegu City held an emergency quarantine measures meeting on the 28th and announced special quarantine measures for daycare centers and kindergartens in response to Omicron.

Recently, with the resurgence of COVID-19, confirmed cases among children aged 11 and under, who are unvaccinated groups as well as adults, have increased, and cluster infections of the COVID-19 virus and suspected cases of Omicron variant infections have been found in kindergartens and daycare centers.

From the 27th of this month to January 7th of next year, during the special quarantine management inspection period, the city and district/counties will jointly focus on inspecting about 100 facilities, mainly those with recent confirmed cases and large daycare centers.

For kindergartens, dedicated supervisors will be assigned to visit and inspect kindergartens in the area, focusing on compliance with basic quarantine rules and disinfection of school buses.

The city and the Office of Education will strengthen quarantine cooperation by holding an online quarantine reinforcement meeting for kindergarten principals and an emergency meeting with the daycare center association. They provided 13,000 self-inspection kits to 1,195 daycare centers to ensure that if symptoms are suspected, attendance and work are suspended.

All childcare facility staff are recommended to receive the early third dose of the vaccine (booster shot), and unvaccinated childcare staff are required to undergo PCR testing once every two weeks.

During the special quarantine management inspection period, daycare centers will be administratively guided to suspend special activities, group activities, and outdoor activities for the next two weeks.

Previously, when a COVID-19 case occurred, daycare centers were restricted from operating for one week, but if an Omicron case occurs, operation will be prohibited for two weeks.

Kindergartens, in consultation with the Office of Education, will extend the one-week vacation to more than two weeks to minimize the environment for Omicron cluster outbreaks.

The city will quarantine all close contacts of Omicron within the region regardless of vaccination status, and conduct diagnostic tests three times in total: upon recognition of close contact, and on the 9th and 13th days thereafter.

The surveillance network for individual and regional cluster infection cases will also be strengthened to prevent the spread of infection in daycare centers and kindergartens.

Kim Cheolseop, Director of the Citizen Safety Office, said, “Although childcare is very challenging, the resurgence of COVID-19 including the spread of the Omicron variant is serious, so we ask parents to cooperate with quarantine measures as much as possible.”