Apartment block enters cohort isolation for the first time

An apartment block in Daegu has entered cohort isolation for the first time as a regular residence, not a hospital, in South Korea. Forty-six Shincheonji Church members residing in the apartment block have been confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 since February.

According to the Daegu metropolitan government and the central headquarters for quarantine measures, 46 out of 142 residents in the Hanmaeum apartment in Dalseo-gu have been identified to have contracted COVID-19 from February 18 to Sunday. The apartment has 94 Shincheonji Church members in total and about half of them have tested positive for the virus.

In response to the mass infection, the Daegu metropolitan government has moved confirmed patients to hospitals in consultation with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and decided on Wednesday to put the two 5-story apartment buildings in cohort isolation. The remaining 96 residents, excluding the confirmed patients, have also been tested. As of 5 p.m. on Sunday, 80 of them have tested negative and the other 16 are waiting for results.

The Hanmaeum apartment is located approximately 1.3 kilometers away from Shincheonji Church in Daegu. The health authorities believe that a large number of the Church members have contracted the virus while joining services of various sizes. The Daegu metropolitan government is considering filing a charge against those who have come in contact with each other despite the instruction to exercise self-quarantine. It has been known that there are over 10 group residences of Shincheonji Church members in Daegu.

Following the first COVID-19 case of a pregnant woman in South Korea, the number of such cases quickly rose to eight. A woman in her 20s tested positive for COVID-19 on February 24 in Daegu had a C-section on Friday and delivered an infant who tested negative. The other seven pregnant COVID-19 patients are in isolation care with one in Busan and six in Daegu.

The number of COVID-19 patients caused by Zumba classes in South Chungcheong Province has reached 104. Three Ministry of Health and Welfare officials in their 20s who took these classes in Sejong have tested positive.


mmj86@donga.com