보건복지부 영문홈페이지

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

- ▲Current status of emergency childcare after delayed school opening ▲Current status of response to Daegu·Gyeongbuk and community treatment centers, etc. -

□ Prime Minister Chung Syekyun, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, presided over a meeting along with the central government and 17 cities and provinces to discuss ▲current status of emergency childcare and relevant measures after school opening has been delayed, ▲current status of quarantine response to Daegu·Gyeongbuk and community treatment centers at a video conference room located on the 19th floor of Government Seoul Complex.
 ○ Head Chung urged to expeditely secure raw materials and substitutes, and make prompt payment to mask manufacturers at the earliest possible time for smooth mask distribution.

 ○ To prevent further group transmission such as the recent one at the call center, relevant ministries distributed related guidelines based on the case studies to the local governments and requested them to seek cooperation from the concerned industries to encourage social distancing.

1. Current status of emergency childcare and relevant measures after delayed school opening

□ The Ministry of Education postponed the new school year of kindergartens, elementary·middle·high schools across the nation to March 23 in order to prevent transmission, and preemptively stop the virus from spreading to families and communities by minimizing students’ contacts and moves.

□ As part of follow-up measures for the delayed school opening, the government provides emergency childcare services to prevent childcare gap and help parents to leave their children to care with ease while schools are closed.

□ The government complies with “social distancing” in schools and provides safe childcare services needed for children of double income families. It also abides by emergency childcare manuals and prioritizes health and safety of students and faculties.

 ○ To strengthen communication of parents and faculties, “Emergency Care Support Center” (website) was established and operated in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, City and Provincial Offices of Education. Also, on-site inspection will be continuously carried out by the Ministry of Education, City and Provincial Offices of Education to ensure emergency childcare can be used without any difficulty.

□ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Yoo Eunhae of Education requested full cooperation from City and Provincial Offices of Education for seamless emergency childcare services.

2. Current status of response to Daegu·Gyeongbuk

□ As of 0:00, March 10 (Tue), a total of 5,663 and 1,117 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, respectively.

 ○ Over the past week, the total number of the confirmed cases in Daegu was 4,006 (daily change, +405 cases) on March 4, 4,237 (+321) on March 5, 4,694 (+367) on March 6, 5,084 (+390) on March 7, 5,381 (+297) on March 8, 5,571 (+190) on March 9, and 5,663 (+92) on March 10.

 ○ In the meantime, the total number of the confirmed cases in Gyeongbuk stood at 774 (+89 cases) on March 4, 861 (+87) on March 5, 984 (+123) on March 6, 1,049 (+65) on March 7, 1,081 (+32) on March 8, 1,107 (+26) on March 9, and 1,117 (+10) on March 10.

   ※ According to the statistics of KCDC (As of 0:00, each day)

 ○ The confirmed cases in Daegu and Gyeongbuk are on the decrease while community treatment centers are expanded. The number of patients waiting to be admitted has been on the decline for the past three days.

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters has secured 1,676 beds and 1,010 beds in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, respectively.

 ○ The Headquarters puts efforts for prompt hospitalization and treatment by securing 255 available beds in Daegu and 200 in Gyeongbuk.

 ○ In addition, the Headquarters has secured more treatment beds for critically ill patients centering on advanced general hospitals and university hospitals whose treatment capacity is high.

   - First, it decided to expand 254 beds in mid-March at the center of 16 national university hospitals and plans to hold seminars with presidents of hospitals, especially advanced general hospitals and university hospitals, to secure more beds.

3. Current status of and future plan for community treatment center

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said that a total of 2,071 patients* with mild symptoms are admitted to 12 community treatment centers in total as of 8:00 am, March 10.
 
  * ①Daegu 1(National Education Training Institute) 129 patients, ②Gyeongbuk Daegu 1 (Samsung HRD Center) 210 patients, ③Gyeongbuk Daegu 2 (Nonghyup Training Institute) 217 patients, ④Gyeongbuk Daegu 3 (SNUH HRD Center) 97 patients, ⑤Gyeongbuk Daegu 4 (Hanti Archdiocese of Daegu Retreat Center) 68 patients, ⑥Gyeongbuk Daegu 5 (Daegu Bank Training Center) 45 patients, ⑦Chungnam Daegu 1 (Korea Post Officials Training Institute) 308 patients, ⑧Gyeongbuk 1 (KOSME Daegu·Gyeongbuk Training Institute) 56 patients, ⑨Daegu 2 (Kyungpook National University dormitories) 368 patients, ⑩Chungbuk Daegu 1 (NHIS HRD Center) 110 patients, ⑪Chungbuk Daegu 2 (NPS Cheongpung Resort) 155 patients, ⑫Gyeongbuk Daegu 7 (LG Display dormitories) 308 patients

 ○ 423 (patients isolated at home with mild symptoms) were additionally admitted to the centers compared to the previous day.

   - Four admitted patients who have the underlying disease of hypertension were transferred to hospitals from the center for intensive care.

   - In the meantime, 10 patients were cured and discharged from Gyeongbuk Daegu 2 Center (Nonghyup Training Institute), making a total of 46 have been cured and discharged from the community treatment centers.

   - Ilsan Hospital was designated to provide medical support for the newly opened Chungbuk Daegu 1 Center (NHIS HRD Center) while Gangwon National University Hospital for Gyeongbuk Daegu 7 Center (LG Display Gumi dormitories). Healthcare staff was dispatched to each center for stable medical monitoring and services.

    ※ (Already participating hospitals) Kyungpook National University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Korea University Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Catholic University of Korea Seoul, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Incheon Hallym Hospital, etc.

 ○ 280 patients in total are scheduled to be admitted with the new opening of Gyeongbuk Daegu 8 Center (Gyeongju Hyundai Motor Training Institute) this afternoon. Seoul Asan Hospital will be designated for specialized medical support for the center.

□ In total, 282 healthcare workers have been dispatched to the 12 designated community treatment centers including 67 doctors, 106 nurses, 77 nursing assistants. The cooperating hospitals were also assigned to the centers and have dispatched medical workforce. The medical workers also conduct joint consulting and telephone counseling with hospitals they belong to.

□ To make sure patients admitted to the centers can be rapidly transferred to medical facilities for needed treatment when they develop (aggravate) symptoms,

 ○ the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters asked for full cooperation from cities and provinces centers are located to make sure patients can be promptly transported to hospitals within the center’s jurisdiction even though they do not belong to that jurisdiction.

4. On-site inspection status of nursing hospitals

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters conducts on-site inspection of nursing hospitals so as to block regional small group transmission.

 ○ With the assistance of the National Health Insurance Service, Daegu and Gyeongbuk were inspected first from March 9 to 10 as both have high risk of mass transmission. The hospitals have been investigated to check if they stick to guidelines such as excusing staff with fever or cough from work and restricting visitors.

 ○ From March 11 to 12, areas other than Daegu and Gyeongbuk plan to be inspected.

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters is also conducting full-fledged investigation of those who did not undergo COVID-19 diagnostic tests (457 persons, as of March 5) among 533 patients hospitalized to the nursing hospitals for pneumonia of unknown cause (179 nursing hospitals).
 
 ○ Mobile specimen collection team from city and district health centers visit the hospitals to collect specimen and commission them for inspection. It is set to be completed until March 13.

5. Management plan for Shincheonji membersㆍstudents working for community facilities

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced a management plan for workers and caregivers among Shincheonji members and students working for nursing hospitals and elderly care facilities which are especially vulnerable to group transmission.

 ○ The procedure is underway to make sure 1,363 members and students who did not undergo screening among workers and caregivers of nursing hospitals go through immediate diagnostic test and follow-up management.

 ○ This procedure is the result of analyzing data (occupation, etc) additionally acquired from administrative investigation of Shincheonji Church (on March 5).

   - The analysis found 1,137 Shincheonji members and students who did not get screening test among a total of 210,000 workers* in nursing hospitals and elderly care facilities.

     * Comparatively analyzing Shincheonji member list and workforce data from National Health Insurance Service and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service

   - It also identified 226 members working as caregivers who did not get the test, either. It means 1,363 members and students were sorted by the analysis, in total.

 ○ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters also plans to conduct thorough quarantine measures by additionally analyzing workers of hospitals, kindergartens, and daycare centers step by step.

  ○ The data from the administrative investigation of Shincheonji Church is now studied to find any difference from the member list secured by the local governments. The investigation results will be explained in detail later.

6. Medical officer candidates voluntarily joining response to COVID-19

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters decided to shorten military training period* of 96 medical officer candidates who volunteered for response to COVID-19 and assign them to local governments requesting more medical specialists.

  * The Ministry of National Defense decided to shorten military training period for medical officer candidates from 6.5 weeks (March 11 to April 24) to 2 weeks (April 10 to 24) when they conduct on-site medical duties related to COVID-19.

 ○ The medical officer candidates to be assigned are all specialists including 60 specialist physicians (63% of the total) local medical facilities requested the most.

 ○ They will be assigned to different cities and provinces* for 3 weeks (March 11 to 31) to provide medical services for confirmed COVID-19 patients.

  * Assignment is decided considering the results of local governments’ demand survey / To be assigned to 10 cities and provinces (Seoul, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Busan, Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Gyeongbuk, Jeonnam)

□ The medical officer candidates who volunteered for COVID-19 response will be provided with economic compensation commensurate with that of newly appointed public health doctors. Also, responsible staff plans to be designated in each local government to provide the candidates with safe and comfortable working and living conditions.

 ○ After their duties, the candidates will be provided with nine days of self-monitoring period (April 1 to 9) to relieve fatigue and check their health status, thereby ensuring their right to health and rest.

7. Current status of special immigration procedure of inbound travelers from Japan

□ Since March 9, the Government has expanded the special immigration procedures to cover all Koreans and foreign nationals entering from Japan, which was applied to inbound travelers from China.

 ○ Over the last two weeks (February 26 to March 8), the average number of inbound travelers from Japan stood at 4,770 a day. However, it drastically dropped by 89% to 518 on March 9 when the special measure was implemented.

 ○ On that day, the special immigration procedure was applied to a total of 437 passengers on 11 airplanes and 10 vessels* entering Korea.

  * (Airport) Incheon 9, Gimpo·Gimhae 1 for each (Port) Busan 5, Busan New·Incheon·Ulsan·Yeosu·Gwangyang 1 for each

 ○ During the procedure, nothing significant was reported including cases having symptoms, travelers without contact information.

□ All inbound travelers from Japan shall undergo fever testing and have their special quarantine declaration checked in the same way applied to special immigration subjects.

 ○ Their address of residence and contact information are all checked. Those who can not provide valid address and contact information are restricted from entering the country.

    * Those restricted from entry during the process will be transferred to the Immigration Division of the Ministry of Justice.

□ The inbound travelers are also mandated to install mobile “self-diagnosis app” and submit self-diagnosis results for 14 days upon arrival.

 ○ Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local governments will intensively manage cases of those having symptoms for 2 consecutive days.

 ○ If the inbound travelers continuously fail to respond self-diagnosis, warning message will be sent and the authorities will identify their location and proceed with the follow-up measures in coordination with the Ministry of Justice and Korean National Policy Agency.

8. Implementation plan for measures to stabilize mask distribution

 ※ Refer to a separate briefing for this information. In case of any query, contact to the following information:

 

Affiliation	Division	Contact Information
Ministry of Economy and Finance	Economic Policy Division	044-215-2710, 2712
	Price Policy Division	044-215-2770, 2771
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy	Bio-Convergence Industry Division	044-203-4390, 4391
Public Procurement Service	Procurement Planning Division	042-724-7210, 7265
Ministry of Food and Drug Safety	Customer Risk Prevention Policy Division	043-719-1711, 1722

 

 

※ All Koreans faced with issues regarding exorbitant prices of or hoarding masks and hand sanitizers are requested to actively report to the authorities through reporting center (02-2640-5057/5080/5087), customer call center (1372), and MFDS website (www.mfds.go.kr).