▲ Severance Eye Hospital, empty due to the outbreak of Corona 19
Corona 19 related to Sarangjeil Church in Seongbuk-gu is spreading at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul.
Until today (18th) morning, a total of two people were confirmed, including a nurse and his colleague who had a history of visiting Sarangjeil Church.
According to Severance Hospital, a nurse from this hospital ophthalmology hospital was tested positive for Corona 19 yesterday.
This nurse visited Sarangjeil Church on the 9th and worked normally from the 10th to the 14th.
The hospital said it was asymptomatic until it was confirmed yesterday.
This nurse was confirmed in the course of a corona19 diagnostic test for people who recently visited the religious facility by the quarantine authorities.
Prior to this, the Central Defense Countermeasure Headquarters requested that members and visitors who have visited the Sarangjeil Church from the 7th to the 13th of this month comply with self-isolation and promptly undergo inspection according to the measures of the quarantine authorities.
Due to the confirmation of the nurse, Severance Hospital has closed the entire ophthalmology hospital, which is a separate building, and is working on quarantine.
An official at Severance Hospital said, "As a nurse working in the laboratory, we are currently identifying contacts with quarantine measures for the ophthalmology hospital."
In an investigation conducted by Severance Hospital, one of the employees who worked in the same space as the nurse was confirmed this morning.
An official at Severance Hospital said, "It is said that the staff who worked in the same space as the nurse who was confirmed the previous day had meals, etc.," and said, "We found that we did not visit religious facilities such as Sarang First Church."
The hospital is conducting epidemiological investigations with the Seodaemun Health Center.
The scale of the infection may increase as the first confirmed nurse after attending Sarangjeil Church has worked for many years, and there have already been additional confirmed cases among contacts.
As a result of the hospital's understanding so far, it was confirmed that there was no contact between the nurse and the inpatient because there were no beds for inpatients in the ophthalmology hospital.
However, since the number of outpatients at an ophthalmology hospital reaches 500 to 600 a day, the contact size is not likely to be small.
The total number of outpatients at Severance Hospital, including ophthalmology hospitals, ranges from 9,000 to 10,000.
The number of corona 19 confirmed by Sarang First Church is spreading with a terrifying momentum, surpassing 300 people until yesterday.
Among the cases of COVID-19 group infection in Korea, it is the second largest after Shincheonji Daegu Church.
(Photo = Yonhap News)