<Anchor> The



number of additional corona 19 confirmed cases, which exceeded 600 for two days in a row, decreased slightly to 500.

However, there are still confirmed cases in crowded factories and hospitals, so the government is going to decide whether to raise the distance again after watching the trend 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 the day after tomorrow (21st), increased by 19.



As such, as group infection continues, centering on existing large-scale business sites, concerns are growing that the embers of the third coronavirus epidemic are revived.



[Sae-Kyun Jeong/Prime Minister: Experts are warning that the worst situation could come if we can't control the spread in a hurry.]



Last week, the average number of confirmed cases nationwide per day exceeded the 400 mark, the main indicator of the 2.5 step distance. It.



However, the quarantine authorities are in a position to maintain the relaxed current distance 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 over 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.



(Video editing: Park Seon, CG: Jo Soo-in)