(Fighting New Crown Pneumonia) More than 700 South Korean outbreaks occur in a week
China News Agency, Seoul, February 24th (Reporter Zeng Zheng) As of 9 am on the 24th, the cumulative number of newly diagnosed cases of new crown pneumonia in South Korea reached 763, compared with 31 a week ago. New crown pneumonia outbreak in South Korea.
The emergence of "super spread" is the turning point of the epidemic
From the first patient confirmed on January 20 in South Korea to 31 on February 18, the outbreak was relatively controllable. But on February 19, there were a sudden increase in 20 confirmed cases in a single day, and the route of infection for many was unknown. Subsequently, the number of confirmed diagnoses continued to surge, with a single-day increase of even more than 200 people.
The inflection point of the epidemic rose, and officials said there was a "super spread event." The 31st confirmed patient continued to go out and participate in church activities after having a fever, which caused a large-scale infection near his residence in Daegu. Although other "super communicators" are not ruled out by officials, at least dozens of confirmed patients have contacted the patient.
"Concealing the condition" has made the situation further out of control. The 31st confirmed patient was a Korean woman who was a member of the Xintiandi Church. The church is highly controversial in South Korea. In 2016, the Korean Christian Federation issued an announcement, identifying the "Xintiandi Church" as a "heresy" under the guise of Christianity, and demanded the followers to be vigilant. Therefore, many members of the church concealed their identity, did not cooperate with the investigation after the epidemic, and even continued to "sneak into" other churches to "preach", causing the spread of infection. Although the church issued a statement stating that church activities were suspended and that believers were called upon to cooperate with the authorities, there were also online exposures of internal church letters, which were inconsistent with open letters.
Data show that more than half of the confirmed patients are currently related to the church. As of the 22nd, of the more than 9,300 believers surveyed, 1261 reported "discomfort" and hundreds more were "lost contact."
The hospital has also become a "hit area." At Da Nam Hospital, Cheongdo-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, more than 100 confirmed cases were related to the hospital and multiple deaths occurred due to severe collective infections. Especially in the psychiatric inpatient building, the space is closed, and there are many elderly patients, 99 of 102 people are infected.
The South Korean government has raised the early warning of the epidemic to the highest level of "serious" and has designated Daegu and Gyeongbuk as areas for special management of infectious diseases. South Korean Prime Minister Ding Shijun said that he must use his country's strength to fight the epidemic.
"Politicization" of the epidemic makes it more difficult to control
In April of this year, South Korea will conduct a parliamentary election. Different political forces have "ulterior motives" around the epidemic, and the anti-epidemic situation has become involved in political storms.
As early as in the early days of the epidemic prevention and control, opposition parties kept protesting government actions. As the situation worsens, differences between the North and the South continue to intensify. Recently, the continuous "top wind" rally incidents in Seoul were mainly organized by anti-government conservative groups.
Earlier, the Seoul Metropolitan Government requested to suspend multiple square assemblies in accordance with corresponding regulations. But on the 22nd and 23rd, thousands of people gathered in Gwanghwamun Square every day to protest, and some people held the "From Daegu" flag. They sit on the bench or on the floor, and many don't wear masks.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-sun went to the assembly square in person, calling on "everyone to go home" and "thinking for himself and others", and even took off his mask and shouted, but there was a boo on the scene and some people threw unknown objects. At the same time, the rally organizer also made a speech on the stage, calling for "continuing the struggle", saying that "there is no virus in the outdoors" and "the Lord will destroy the virus", causing cheers.
Such a rally has also sparked controversy in South Korea. Many Korean netizens left messages saying "crazy" and "demanding the organizers." Seoul police said they would cooperate with the government to punish those who violated the "ban" of the assembly in accordance with the law.
Daegu Mayor Quan Yongzhen publicly stated that he should not let Daegu become a political victim, and hope that the political world would be silent at this time. He urged the public to reduce going out, especially not to hold things up in Daegu.
South Korean parliament member and former Minister of the Interior and Security Kim Fu-hyun also stated that there are politics where there are people, but it is painful that what kind of political attempt would be to hurt the people. He said that the new crown pneumonia will eventually become history, but the damage to the soul will not be forgotten, and he called on the people to unite.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that now that the critical moment of the epidemic is reached, the central and local governments, the epidemic prevention department and all citizens must make every effort to unite against the epidemic. (Finish)