COVID-19 concentrated in Seoul metropolitan area; many cases among elderly
- 4 years ago
확진자 수도권집중 경향 뚜렷... 고령 확진자 우려
South Korea sees 37 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with most of those cases coming from the capital region. A particular worry is the high proportion of cases coming from the elderly population... who are most at risk from coronavirus.
Our Kim Do-yeon reports.
With 22 of South Korea's 37 new COVID-19 cases on Monday coming from local transmissions within the Seoul metropolitan area, the government is asking the public and businesses to actively take part in virus prevention practices.
The capital region has seen an average of 36.5 cases a day for the past two weeks.
The region has seen several clusters of cases such as ones linked to a door-to-door sales company, a senior citizens' home and a table tennis club.
"The more worrying part is the back-to-back sporadic appearances of clusters, especially because of the spread at facilities that the elderly use such as nursing homes."
Around 40% of the patients over the past two weeks have been more than 60 years old.
The government says this could cause the death rate to rise as elderly people are more vulnerable to the virus.
Health authorities have asked facilities for senior citizens to ramp up their measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
"For nursing homes, please make sure to thoroughly check all new seniors moving in...and please monitor employees and current residents. Test anyone with suspicious symptoms."
In addition, there is a steady inflow of cases from people arriving from overseas.
Of Monday's 37 new cases, 13 were imported from abroad... the second day in June that the number has been in double digits.
As for the total cases, the country stands at 12,121 as of midnight Monday.
With no additional deaths, the death toll remains at 277.
Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News
South Korea sees 37 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, with most of those cases coming from the capital region. A particular worry is the high proportion of cases coming from the elderly population... who are most at risk from coronavirus.
Our Kim Do-yeon reports.
With 22 of South Korea's 37 new COVID-19 cases on Monday coming from local transmissions within the Seoul metropolitan area, the government is asking the public and businesses to actively take part in virus prevention practices.
The capital region has seen an average of 36.5 cases a day for the past two weeks.
The region has seen several clusters of cases such as ones linked to a door-to-door sales company, a senior citizens' home and a table tennis club.
"The more worrying part is the back-to-back sporadic appearances of clusters, especially because of the spread at facilities that the elderly use such as nursing homes."
Around 40% of the patients over the past two weeks have been more than 60 years old.
The government says this could cause the death rate to rise as elderly people are more vulnerable to the virus.
Health authorities have asked facilities for senior citizens to ramp up their measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
"For nursing homes, please make sure to thoroughly check all new seniors moving in...and please monitor employees and current residents. Test anyone with suspicious symptoms."
In addition, there is a steady inflow of cases from people arriving from overseas.
Of Monday's 37 new cases, 13 were imported from abroad... the second day in June that the number has been in double digits.
As for the total cases, the country stands at 12,121 as of midnight Monday.
With no additional deaths, the death toll remains at 277.
Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News