South Korea reports big jump in COVID-19 cases on outbreaks in Christian schools
27 January, 2021
South Korean authorities were scrambling on Wednesday (Jan 27) to contain coronavirus outbreaks centred around Christian schools as the country reported a jump in infections, dampening hopes of a speedy exit from a third wave of the pandemic.
A total of 297 COVID-19 cases have been traced to six churches and mission schools run by a Christian organisation, senior health official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.
A lot more than 100 cases were confirmed overnight among persons associated with a church and its own mission school in Gwangju, about 270 km south of Seoul, officials said. Another 171 cases have been associated with an affiliated school in the location of Daejeon since Jan 17.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the Daejeon mission school outbreak appeared to have been spreading for quite a while before it had been detected.
The Christian organisation responsible for the facilities, International Mission, was ordered to check everyone associated with 32 of its 40 schools and churches around the united states.
The group apologised for not taking early measures to avoid the outbreak. It explained that while some infected students might have been asymptomatic it experienced also failed to need students with cold-like symptoms to acquire tested.
"We deeply apologise for not responding earlier and for thinking the students could experienced a cold when a student first designed fever," it stated in a statement.
The organisation said it could submit a full set of students and staff in its schools nationwide.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun called on people affiliated with the damaged facilities to get tested.
"The main element is speed. I ask the authorities and local governments to make all-out efforts to identify related facilities and prevent further transmission," Chung advised a government briefing.
The KDCA reported 559 new cases by midnight on Tuesday, up from 354 a day before, delivering the national tally to 76,429 infections with 1,378 deaths.
South Korea had managed to preserve the virus in order because of aggressive testing and contact-tracing, but a good third wave that broke out late this past year has proven more difficult to contain.
The KDCA has said 45.4 % of infections in the united states in the last year were due to cluster infections emerging from specific close-knit groups. Religious facilities had been the main way to obtain such clusters.
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