Two three-day holidays in October 'emergency'... Extension of distance is inevitable

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Right now, half of the patients in Seoul do not know the route of infection. Also, next month, there will be two three-day holidays created as substitute holidays. It is difficult to lower the current level of social distancing as we are more concerned about the future.

Reporter Kim Jung-woo reports.

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About 4 out of 10 confirmed cases this week have not confirmed the route of infection.

The higher the rate of not being able to find the source of infection, the more difficult it will be to quarantine.

In the case of Seoul, where the number of confirmed cases exceeds 1,000 a day, the route of infection is unknown in about half of the cases.

[Jung Eun-kyung / Director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: It has become very difficult to determine the route of infection about who was infected first and who spread it to whom. Because it is not possible to test all exposed persons.] It

is also worrying that the ratio of 'management within the quarantine network', which indicates the rate of confirmed cases in self-quarantine, recently dropped below 30%.

This means that the number of people infected by living their daily lives without being quarantined has increased, which means that the possibility of infecting others has also increased.

Following the Chuseok holiday, two three-day holidays are scheduled next month, so the quarantine authorities are nervous.

Right after the Chuseok holiday, the number of confirmed cases in one day exceeded 3,000, but the number of tourists in the fall such as viewing the autumn leaves can spread the infection from the metropolitan area to the provinces.

A new distance adjustment plan to be applied from the 4th of next month will be announced next week, but it seems difficult to lower the current distance from the 4th level in the metropolitan area and the 3rd level in the non-metropolitan area.

The quarantine authorities emphasized that it is important to keep the quarantine situation stable until the end of October, when more than 70% of the people finish immunization for a step-by-step recovery of daily life, suggesting an extension of the distancing phase.

(Video editing: Seungjin Lee)