<Anchor> The number of



new corona19 confirmed cases increased by 125 yesterday (4th), recording a three-digit number for the second day.

In particular, as more than 20 people were confirmed at a call center in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, and concerns about further infection, the distance between Cheonan and Asan was raised to 1.5 steps.



This is Park Chan-beom reporter.



<Reporter> In



Cheonan, Chungnam, at least 30 people were confirmed yesterday and today in the aftermath of a call center group infection.



There were 21 call center-related confirmed cases. One employee in their 40s was first confirmed yesterday, and 20 of the remaining 70 employees tested positive today.



About 160 people from 14 companies in the same building are also undergoing diagnostic tests as they are concerned about contact infection through elevators.



The city of Cheonan said that the quarantine rules, such as distance between seats and wearing a mask, were not properly followed in the call center.



[Park Sang-don/Cheonan Mayor: It is a report from the head of our health center that (employees) did not wear masks correctly even in the call center during the epidemiological investigation.] In



Cheonan, most of the call center-related confirmed patients are between their 30s and 50s, so their children attend schools. We decided to stop attending school in 11 places including and kindergarten.



In addition, step 1.5 of the'new social distancing' standard was applied from 6 pm today, prohibiting dancing and seating in 5 entertainment facilities such as clubs.



[Lee Sang-won/Director of Epidemiological Investigation and Analysis, Central Defense Countermeasure Headquarters:'The reproductive index of Chungcheong region will be higher than that of other regions.'

The



quarantine authorities explained that when looking at the path of infection for confirmed patients in the last two weeks, small-scale infections in local communities accounted for the largest share at 36.5%, as in the case of the Cheonan call center.



(Video coverage: Kim Yong-tae, TJB, video editing: Park Ji-in, CG: Choi Haneul)