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SEOUL – South Korea conducted more than 15,000 tests on Wednesday (May 13) as health officials rushed to contain a Covid-19 outbreak linked to at least nine clubs in the Itaewon nightlife district in Seoul.
The promise of anonymous evidence has encouraged more people to come forward as the number of cases linked to the new group increased to 119, compared to 102 the day before.
New cases include a 27-year-old Busan clubber who infected his 62-year-old father and one-year-old nephew. Eleven infections were attributed to a 25-year-old private academy professor from Incheon and three more infections in the military brought their total to 11. South Korea now has 10,962 cases, with 259 deaths.
Itaewon’s group came to light when a 29-year-old resident of Yongin City tested positive on May 6, after visiting five gay clubs in Itaewon on May 1 and 2 over a six-day weekend that he saw many people go to wine, dinner and party.
With the number of secondary infections reaching 43, officials warn that a delay in diagnosis could “exacerbate the damage.”
Approximately 700 of the 5,517 people who visited the first five identified clubs in the group, all of whom are known to be gay bars, remain untouchable.
Even so, there are no immediate plans to resume the strict rules of social distancing that were relaxed as of May 6.
But there are new precautionary measures, such as requiring people who use the subway during rush hour to wear face masks starting Wednesday.
Public buses with air conditioning also started operating with open windows for better ventilation.
Deputy Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said authorities will not reinstate the stricter standards if the number of new cases remains below 50 daily and if 95 percent of cases can be tracked.
A total of 26 new cases were reported Wednesday, of which 22 are local broadcasts. The highest number of cases in the past week was 35 on Monday.
Dr. Jung Eun-kyeong, director general of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that the numbers would increase due to extensive contact tracing and voluntary testing. But it was too early to compare the Itaewon group to the February outbreak linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, he added.
To date, more than 5,000 infections have been traced in Shincheonji, whose 200,000 members were tested at the peak of the outbreak.
This time around 22,000 tests had already been carried out on people, including 1,200 foreigners, potentially exposed to the Itaewon group. Itaewon is popular with foreigners and many live in the area.
Nine clubs have been named as possible hot spots. The first five are King Club, Queen, Trunk, Soho, and HIM, all of whom the first patient in the group visited.
The second batch includes Club Made, Pistil, Pink Elephant, and Fountain, all of which the first patient did not visit.
The Yongsan district office, which oversees Itaewon, said it is compiling the visitor list at each of the four clubs to locate contacts.
The city of Incheon is also on high alert for massive infections after a teacher and 25-year-old resident was found to have infected at least 11 people after visiting the King Club on May 2 and 3. Those infected include five high school students at the academy where he taught, a colleague, and an acquaintance.
It also infected a high school student whom he taught privately, as well as the student’s mother and twin brother, and the brother’s guardian.
More than 1,000 members of two churches attended by some of the students were told to take the test and stay home.
Incheon also imposed a one-week ban on the operation of all private academies in the city.
Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun said: “It will be difficult to maintain the social distancing that has existed since February, but parents should refrain from sending their children to these private academies. We will do our best to ensure that no one has been lost contact. “
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