보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Regular Briefing of Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on COVID-19

- Quarantine measures for residential facilities for the vulnerable and future plans, supply and demand of masks, etc.

□ Prime Minister Chung Syekyun, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (“the Headquarters”), presided over a meeting at the video conference room of the Daegu Metropolitan City Hall, with the central government and 17 cities and provinces to discuss 1) quarantine measures for residential facilities for the vulnerable and future plans and 2) the supply and demand of masks.

 ○ The Head of the Headquarters, Prime Minister Chung, asked for all available measures to increase supply of masks including a ramp-up of production in the weekends and urged all related ministries including the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to fully prepare for the implementation of Mask Supply and Demand Strategy (Mar 9).

 ○ Meanwhile, he requested all relevant institutions to make efforts to build an environment where all public servants can focus on their work without facing any disadvantages due to Proactive Administration.

1. Containment measures for residential facilities designed for the vulnerable

□ The Headquarters will strengthen preventive measures at residential facilities for the vulnerable.

 ○ Preventive measures are strengthened to respond to the increase in confirmed cases related to residential facilities in the gyeongbuk province.

 ○ Cohort quarantine of some facilities has been determined in Gyoeonggi (Mar 1) and Gyeongbuk (Mar 5) as a preventive measure.

   - In response to the rapid increase in confirmed cases in these regions, the quarantine measure aims to prevent community transmission by restricting access of outsiders to public facilities vulnerable to transmission.

 ○ The Headquarters plans to instruct other local governments, if needed, to take preventive quarantine measures at residential facilities for the elderly and persons with disability, who are more vulnerable to transmission.

□ The Headquarters also announced its plan to conduct additional nationwide investigation on care hospitals by March 12th.

 ○ As care hospitals treat a number of vulnerable elderly inpatients, an investigation has been conducted on 1,435 of these hospitals to check if they exclude workers with travel history to China or other affected regions, restrict visitors, and have patients with unknown pneumonia.

   - As a result, rooms for improvement have been identified and addressed. Results of weekly self-assessment by care hospitals have confirmed that all hospitals took the necessary measures, such as excluding workers with symptoms including fever, cough, etc. and restricting visitors.

    * No restrictions on visits or workers and caregivers with travel history to China and other affected regions, etc.
 
 - This additional investigation will check compliance with mandatory    responsibilities and post specific responsibilities of hospitals, hospital workers, and patients.

 ○ Moreover, about 460 inpatients (as of March 5) of care hospitals who are being treated for unknown pneumonia will undertake a diagnostic test for COVID-19.

   - This will eliminate loopholes in the containment system and strengthen protection for elderly patients.

□ Meanwhile, the Headquarters introduced a Social Welfare Facility Response Guideline and Infectious Disease Prevention guideline to prevent transmission in social welfare facilities that accommodates the vulnerable (children, elderly, persons with disability, etc.)

 ○ Social Welfare facilities are required to comply with the guideline and take thorough preventive measures including personal hygiene measures of workers and residents, temperature check twice a day, restrictions on visits, travels, and leaves, and exclusion of high-risk workers.

 ○ On January 29th, the government introduced a monitoring system to check compliance of social welfare facilities with the guideline*. From February 9th, the headquarters conducts daily monitoring on exclusion of workers and temporary suspension of operation.

    * Awareness of prevention guidelines and control measures, education and training for workers and residents, equipment of hand sanitizer and masks, restriction of outsider access, exclusion of high-risk workers, any other abnormalities

□ The Headquarters asked residential facilities for stringent entry and exit management of workers and residents, compliance with personal hygiene measures, and regular temperature checks to prevent group transmission.

2. Community treatment center

□ The Headquarters announced that as of March 7th (8:00 AM), a total of 1,110 mild cases are staying at community treatment centers in Daegu, Gyeongbuk, and Cheonan.- Daegu 1 (National Education Training Institute): 142 patients, Gyeongbuk Daegu 1 (Samsung HRD Center): 204 patients, Gyeongbuk Daegu 2 (Nonghyup Training Institute): 233 patients, Gyeongbuk Daegu 3 (SNUH HRD Center): 99 patients, Gyeongbuk Daegu 4 (Hanti Archdiocese of Daegu Retreat Center): 55 patients, Gyeongbuk Daegu 5 (Daegu Bank Training Center): 36 patients, Chungnam Daegu 1 (Korea Post Officials Training Institute): 285 patients, Gyeongbuk 1 (KOSME Daegu·Gyeongbuk Training Institute): 56 patients

 ○ On March 6, two more centers (Korea Post Officials Training Institute and KOSME Daegu·Gyeongbuk Training Institute) were designated, increasing the number of confirmed cases in these centers by 345. The total number of mild cases in these centers accounted for 73% of the total capacity (1527).

   - Among confirmed cases at the daegu 1 center, specimens of those who have been confirmed at least 7 days ago were collected. Discharge of these patients will be determined after the second collection of their specimens, based on the judgment of medical personnel.

 ○ 152 medical personnel (36 doctors, 58 nurses, and 45 assistant nurses) are serving at eight designated centers. Medical personnel from upper-level general hospitals* including Soonchunhyang University Hospital have joined the efforts to treat mild cases by providing medical treatment and advices.

     * Existing participating hospitals: Kyungpook National University Hospital, Samsung MEdical Center, Korea University Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul ST. Mary’s Hospital
□ Additional centers are planned to be designated—Chungbuk Daegu 2 (NPS Cheongpung Resort) on March 8, Chungbuk Daegu 1 (NHIS HRD Center) and Gyeongbuk Daegu 7 (LG Display dormitories) on March 9.
 ※ Gyeongbuk Daegu 1 (Kensington Resort Gyeongju) will not be designated due to      the circumstances of the local government.

3. COVID-19 Protection Hospitals

□ The Headquarters received applications and designated 303 hospitals   as COVID-19 Protection Hospitals.

    * All Protection Hospitals operate outpatient clinics for respiratory patients. 209 of them also operates a screening clinic capable of specimen collection and 113 of them operates a inpatient room dedicated respiratory patients.

 ○ These hospitals operate clinics for respiratory patients (both inpatients/outpatients) separately from other patients to prevent hospital transmission and provide service to the general public worried of potential transmission.

□ The Headquarters will monitor operation of COVID-19 Protection Hospitals with the Korea Hospital Association and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service while instructing these hospitals to take special care of prevention and control of transmission.

4. Social Service Emergency Care Service provided by the Daegu Metropolitan City Public Agency

□ The Daegu Metropolitan City and the Daegu Metropolitan City Public Agency for Social Service provide emergency care services to the children, elderly, and persons with disability requiring care due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

 ○ Emergency care services provide round-the-clock care (including weekends) to those who face lack of care due to the quarantine of caregivers or face difficulty in accessing care services.

 ○ The Deagu Metropolitan City Public Agency for Social Service is recruiting voluntary caregivers. In four days of the posting, 293 caregivers and activity support workers applied.

 ○ Recruited volunteers will contribute to strengthening social services and prevent loopholes in the care system by proving round-the-clock care services to children or elderly staying at temporary care facilities due to the quarantine of caregivers.

< 긴급돌봄 제공 실적 >

 

▪Children: nine caregivers provide care for two children** * Staying at the temporary facility receiving round-the-clock care due to the quarantine of caregiver ▪ Elderly: nine caregivers provide care for 10 senior citizens* * 8 senior citizens who cannot receive care due to temporary suspension of care facilities; 2 senior citizens sub subject to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 of caregivers or guardians; provide support for daily chores such as grocery shopping and emotional support ▪ Persons with Disability: one caregiver for one person with visual disability * Provide support for everyday life following temporty suspension of care facilities ▪ Welfare Facilities: 5 substitute caregivers replace those who are subject to self-quarantine

 

 

□ The Headquarters expressed sincere appreciation to those who have applied for the emergency care service despite the potential risks they may face.

5. Mask Supply and Demand
  ※ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will provide more information via a briefing session. For more questions, please call the following number.

 

Ministry	Division	Phone number
Ministry of Economy and Finance	Price Policy Division	044-215-2770, 2771
	Macro-economy Policy Division	044-215-2830, 2832, 2833
Ministry of Food and Drug Safety	Supply and Demand Support Team	043-719-3302, 3316
	Distribution stability Team	043-719-3651, 3660
	Overall Planning Team	043-719-3701, 3702
Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy	Carbon Nano-fiber Team	044-203-4281