COVID-19 cluster infections popping up in S. Korea via new patterns, sources
- 4 years ago
새로운 패턴, 경로로 퍼지는 코로나,...집단 감염 속출 원인과 해결 방안은?
Health officials have described the outbreak in South Korea over the past two weeks as the country's biggest crisis since the emergence of COVID-19.
Health workers are having difficulty tracking transmissions linked to multiple sources and with clusters popping up from various places.
What's behind the sporadic clusters and what can be done?
Let's get some answers from our Lee Kyung-eun.
COVID-19 is showing new sources and patterns of transmission.
One recent source is an apartment complex in Seoul's Guro-gu District where at least 28 people have been confirmed with the virus as of Thursday.
But, the initial cluster of eight cases are not from a single household,...or even the same floor.
Rather, they are from five different households,...on five different floors.
Along with building's elevator, the ventilating system has been discussed as possible routes of transmission as those apartments are all directly below each other.
But health authorities and experts have largely ruled out such a possibility.
"Ventilating systems COULD be another source, given the possibility of aerosol infection, but we can't be sure about that as air is not the major method of transmission."
These kinds of cluster infections have surged drastically over the past few weeks,...with a new list of COVID-19 hotspots, including a meat factory where one of the infected apartment residents works.
But, it is highly unlikely that the virus has mutated to contribute to this current spike...given that the prominent variant found now and several months ago are the same both the GH variant.
"Even when the situation was relatively under control, transmissions continued quietly via asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms. But as social distancing was loosened and with people engaging in social activities, it became an environment where transmissions occurred more easily."
He added that...tracing the sources of these fast-spreading transmissions is very difficult,..and wouldn't help contain the outbreak either.
Only stronger social distancing measures can prevent the situation from getting any worse.
Lee Kyung-eun, Arirang News.
Health officials have described the outbreak in South Korea over the past two weeks as the country's biggest crisis since the emergence of COVID-19.
Health workers are having difficulty tracking transmissions linked to multiple sources and with clusters popping up from various places.
What's behind the sporadic clusters and what can be done?
Let's get some answers from our Lee Kyung-eun.
COVID-19 is showing new sources and patterns of transmission.
One recent source is an apartment complex in Seoul's Guro-gu District where at least 28 people have been confirmed with the virus as of Thursday.
But, the initial cluster of eight cases are not from a single household,...or even the same floor.
Rather, they are from five different households,...on five different floors.
Along with building's elevator, the ventilating system has been discussed as possible routes of transmission as those apartments are all directly below each other.
But health authorities and experts have largely ruled out such a possibility.
"Ventilating systems COULD be another source, given the possibility of aerosol infection, but we can't be sure about that as air is not the major method of transmission."
These kinds of cluster infections have surged drastically over the past few weeks,...with a new list of COVID-19 hotspots, including a meat factory where one of the infected apartment residents works.
But, it is highly unlikely that the virus has mutated to contribute to this current spike...given that the prominent variant found now and several months ago are the same both the GH variant.
"Even when the situation was relatively under control, transmissions continued quietly via asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms. But as social distancing was loosened and with people engaging in social activities, it became an environment where transmissions occurred more easily."
He added that...tracing the sources of these fast-spreading transmissions is very difficult,..and wouldn't help contain the outbreak either.
Only stronger social distancing measures can prevent the situation from getting any worse.
Lee Kyung-eun, Arirang News.