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A new cluster of coronavirus cases linked to a Seoul party district has sparked the reinstatement of social distancing measures in the capital and raised fears of a new wave of cases in South Korea.
Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, has effectively closed the city’s bars and nightclubs with an order prohibiting them from hosting crowds of people.
“Neglect can lead to an explosion of infections: We clearly realized this through the group infections seen in the Itaewon club case,” Park said.
Authorities attributed the new group to at least one person who visited various clubs and bars in the popular Itaewon nightlife district last week, and who potentially contacted 1,500 other partygoers.
The case is a severe blow to the South Korean government, which has received international praise for the mass evidence, high-tech contact tracking and social distancing to combat what was, for a time, the worst outbreak outside of China.
Kim Woo-joo, professor of infectious diseases at the Guro Hospital of the University of Korea, said the government had been in too much of a hurry to restart the economy.
“A more gradual approach was needed, starting with opening low-risk facilities first, but we reopened even high-risk places at the same time, even though we knew that bars and clubs, where many people gather and air circulation is not effective, they are fertile ground for virus infection, “he said.
South Korean health officials reported 34 new cases on Sunday, most of which were transmitted locally, representing a sharp increase from last week when the country had no local infections for several days.
Authorities are prepared for a further surge in infections due to difficulties in tracing contacts in the area. Despite the requirement for check-ins at many establishments, officials found that most of Itaewon’s clubs and bars were inaccurate, raising fears about containing the outbreak.
“I am very concerned about a jump in new cases. . . I am canceling or delaying meeting my friends, ”said Yoon Ah-eurm, a waitress at a cafe in Itaewon.
Kim warned that the outbreak could be the “start of a second wave of infections.”
“The problem is that about two-thirds of the people who visited the clubs are now out of reach. It is difficult to track them as they are unwilling to step forward due to privacy concerns, ”he said.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in warned Sunday that while handling the virus in the country was a source of national “pride”, a “protracted war” was looming.
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“The [latest] cluster of infection. . . It has raised awareness that, even during the stabilization phase, similar situations can arise again anytime, anywhere in a crowded, enclosed space. It doesn’t end until it ends, ”he said.
The South Korean government has already raised virus-related spending to around $ 200 billion, more than 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Still, Moon warned of “colossal” economic damage.
“The contraction in the service industry, which started in tourism and travel, restaurants and accommodation, is expanding into a crisis in the manufacturing industry,” he said.
In response, Moon announced a “Korean version” of the US Depression-era New Deal, and promised to drive job growth through increased spending on technology and infrastructure, as well as by expanding employment insurance. .
