<Anchor> The
number of new corona19 confirmed cases, which exceeded 600 for two days in a row, decreased to 500.
From the interim figures, it is expected that there will be 400 additional confirmed cases today (20th), but the government decided to observe the situation until this weekend.
This is reporter Kim Hyung-rae.
<Reporter>
In the plastic factory in Namyangju, where a large-scale group infection, mainly foreign workers, occurred on the 13th, the number of related confirmed cases increased to 132 as additional confirmations continued for six days.
In particular, one foreign worker who has not yet been inspected has been cut off, and the authorities began to determine the location.
Regarding the heating plant in Asan, Chungnam, 25 additional infected people, including family members and acquaintances of the employees, and the number of confirmed cases related to Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul, which stopped outpatient treatment until tomorrow, increased by 19.
As such, as group infection continues around existing large-scale business sites, concerns are growing that the embers of the third corona epidemic are reviving.
Last week, the average number of confirmed cases nationwide per day exceeded the 400 mark, a key indicator of 2.5 steps of distance.
However, the quarantine authorities are in a position to maintain the current distancing until this weekend.
[Son Young-rae / Head of Social Strategy Division, Central Accident Control Headquarters: (After the Lunar New Year holidays) It is reported that it is too early to judge whether it is a temporary phenomenon due to an increase in inspection volume, or whether the current third epidemic is changing into a situation where it is spreading again...
.]
The authorities decided to select about 1,000 workplaces nationwide that are prone to group infections, intensively inspect them for two weeks starting next week, and conduct a one-on-one non-face-to-face survey of 16,000 foreign workers.