Tag: coronavirus

It will be interesting to see if President Moon tries to crush opposition rallies by using the coronavirus as an excuse:

The President demanded the authorities bring criminal charges against those hampering epidemiological investigations and quarantine operations and, if necessary, apprehend them on site and seek an arrest warrant.

“The core principle of the nation’s fight against COVID-19 is swiftly detecting and testing those who have come into close contact with coronavirus patients, and isolating and treating infected people,” Moon said during a visit to the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s (SMG) office in charge of the city’s disaster and safety countermeasures. “But some people and organizations are systematically hampering the government’s efforts to stem the spread of the virus.”

Some local churches are facing mounting controversy and public anger as they have appeared to be uncooperative in tracing and isolating potential COVID-19 patients.

Among the churches is the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul led by conservative pastor Jun Kwang-hoon who has led several anti-government rallies, with the most recent one held in central Seoul Aug. 15. The rally brought together thousands of demonstrators despite the government’s advice to follow social distancing guidelines.

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

The spread of the coronavirus largely in the Seoul area continues to get worse:

South Korea’s health authorities warned Friday they will consider upping the level of social distancing to the highest level if nationwide outbreaks of the new coronavirus continue after the weekend.

The country’s virus fight has reached a critical phase as its daily new virus cases surpassed 300 for the first time since early March on Friday due largely to church-linked cluster infections in the wider capital area and other regions.

The country added 324 more COVID-19 cases, including 315 local infections, raising the total caseload to 16,670, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

Friday’s tally marked the most since March 8 when the daily virus cases reached 367.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Something these news stories never mention about this breakout of the coronavirus in Seoul is whether the hospitals are being overwhelmed or not? That is the key factor people need to remember, is the spread contained enough to where the hospitals can handle the sickest people:

 South Korea’s daily new virus cases have now soared by three-digit figures for a week straight as the country on Wednesday reported the largest number of cases since early March, with infections traced to churches in the capital city of Seoul continuing to swell. 

The country added 297 more COVID-19 cases, including 283 local infections, raising the total caseload to 16,058, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). 

Over the past week, the daily new virus cases have been in the triple digits, with almost 1,300 cases being newly identified. Wednesday’s daily tally marks the most since March 8, when the country reported 367 COVID-19 cases.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This just shows how quickly this virus can spread when people are not vigilant:

The COVID-19 crisis appears to be spinning out of control in Korea with the Seoul metropolitan area recording triple-digit increases in new infections over the past five days.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 246 new cases Monday, pushing up the total caseload to 15,761 with 306 deaths. Among the 246, 201 were in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, as the total number of cases over the last five days reached 991. 

Mass infections were reported to have started in churches and then spread to people at restaurants, coffee shops, military bases, protest sites and police stations. COVID-19 is posing a grave challenge to quarantine officials who have branded the current situation worse than the outbreak among the Shincheonji Church of Jesus members in Daegu in February and March.

In response, the government banned all churches activities in the Seoul metropolitan area, except for an online worship starting from midnight Tuesday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the government also plans to temporarily shut down karaoke and PC rooms, clubs, buffet restaurants, public libraries, galleries and museums. 

It is also interesting that authorities are blaming anti-government protests as well for spreading the virus. This seems like a convenient way to try and stop the rallies.

It wasn’t that long ago when South Korea reported just 3 local infections, but now there is a surge of infections being caused by indoor gatherings:

South Korea’s new coronavirus infections jumped to a five-month high of 279 on Sunday due mainly to a surge in church-related cases in the greater Seoul area.

This brought the country’s total caseload to 15,318, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Of the total, 267 were locally transmitted cases. 

It marked the highest figure since March 8 when the new daily infections stood at 367 after hitting a record high of 909 on Feb. 29, with Daegu and its neighboring North Gyeongsang Province at the center of the mass outbreak. 

It also marked a three-digit number for the third straight day, following 103 infections Friday and 166 Saturday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but doing something like this is not helping stop the spread:

The warning came after pastor Jun Kwang-hoon and other members of the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul took part in massive anti-government rallies held in downtown Seoul on Saturday in violation of self-quarantine rules. They were supposed to be quarantined after more than 100 COVID-19 patients were traced to the church.

As of 2 p.m., infections tied to the church have swelled to 249 nationwide, the KCDC said, adding that the figure is feared to grow as thousands are undergoing virus tests.

What we have learned from the U.S. media is that as long as it was a “peaceful protest” the virus won’t spread there. Yes, I am joking, but just think how bad the spread of the virus is going to be once it gets cold outside with more people gathering indoors.

Here is a power tip for everyone, don’t try to wash and microwave your money; it usually does not end well:

Money laundering is not a good idea, as a South Korean found out when he or she put banknotes in a washing machine to remove possible traces of the coronavirus.

Officials say the loss was considerable.

The person living in Ansan city, near Seoul, placed an unspecified amount of 50,000-won ($42) bills in a washing machine earlier this year. Some of the money was seriously damaged, and the person reached out to the Bank of Korea to find whether it could be exchanged for new bills.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the Bank of Korea refunded some of his damaged bills but others were too damaged to be refunded causing the man to take a serious loss.

It looks like USFJ is about to take the actions USFK took early on in the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, by using UCMJ and other punitive actions to stop military personnel from breaking public health policies:

 Coronavirus rule breakers will face “quick and appropriate action,” the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan said in a video message Thursday, after people from the garrison were seen partying in off-limits parts of Tokyo.

“It seems like a few members of our team are starting to lose focus,” Col. Thomas Matelski, who oversees Camp Zama and Sagami General Depot in Kanagawa prefecture, said in his message on the garrison’s Facebook page.

U.S. Army Japan, which has been in an elevated health protection status since late February, increased its coronavirus risk level to “substantial” Thursday after discovering three new cases in its community. The Army reported five other infections earlier in the week. (……)

“Recently we have seen situations with our youth and soldiers in off-limits party areas in Tokyo,” Matelski said. “Some seem to think that rules are there to be broken. I can assure you that that is not the case.” (…….)

Leadership will take quick appropriate action when situations like this occur, Matelski said in his video.

Penalties can range from an immediate 14-day restriction of movement to action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, early return to the U.S. of dependents or being banned from military facilities in Japan, he said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but it seems like this is going to be hard to police. The major entertainment districts of  Roppongi, Shinjuku and Shibuya are huge areas of Tokyo. Is USFJ going to send in patrols to question everyone that looks like they may be in the military? Personnel just need to do the right thing and comply with the restrictions that USFJ has put in place to minimize coronavirus infections on post.

It looks like the leader of the Shincheonji Church will be the fall guy for his church spreading coronavirus in Daegu:

The leader of a minor religious sect at the center of the early coronavirus outbreak in South Korea was arrested early Saturday for allegedly obstructing the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.

A local court in Suwon, south of Seoul, issued an arrest warrant for Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. 

Lee, 89, is suspected of submitting false documents to health authorities on the number of participants at the sect’s gatherings and where the gatherings took place in February, when the fringe religious sect became a hot spot of the virus spread in the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

He is also accused of embezzling 5.6 billion won (US$4.68 million) from church funds and holding unauthorized religious events from 2015-19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like North Korea has found a way to blame South Korea for coronavirus cases in their country:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency politburo meeting of the Workers’ Party and adopted the “maximum emergency system” against coronavirus after a defector returned home from South Korea with virus symptoms, state media reported Sunday.

During the meeting held on Saturday, Kim also said he took “the preemptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong” after the “runaway” returned to the border city on July 19 after crossing the military demarcation line, three years after fleeing to the South, the Korean Central News Agency said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the coronavirus has likely entered North Korea a long time ago from North Koreans moving back and forth across the Chinese border. The Kim regime claims there has been no coronavirus cases which few people believe. Now they can come out and claim they actually do have coronavirus cases and the South Koreans are to blame for it.

By the way has DMZ border security gotten so weak that people can just walk across over to Kaeseong now?

This high number though is kind of an artificial jump in infections due to a number of Russian sailors and returning Korean workers from Iraq testing positive for the virus. I would suspect next week it will go back down again:

Anchor: The number of COVID-19 cases imported to South Korea from overseas surged to a record daily high on Friday. Due to an influx of infections from Iraq and Russia, South Korea added 86 additional imported cases on top of 27 locally-transmitted infections.
Jim Bulley has more.

Report: The daily increase of COVID-19 cases in South Korea has topped 100 for the first time in 115 days, according to figures released on Saturday.

Many of the new infections are imported cases among Russian sailors and South Korean workers who returned from Iraq on government-arranged flights. 

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) announced the latest tally, saying that 113 new cases were reported throughout Friday.

The accumulated total stands at 14-thousand-92.

Of the new infections, 86 are imported including 32 Russian sailors and 36 Korean workers airlifted from Iraq. Eighty-one of the imported cases were detected upon arrival.

An imported caseload of 86 is the highest since the first coronavirus patient was confirmed in South Korea on January 20. The previous high in imported cases was 67, recorded on March 29.

Among the 27 new domestic transmissions tallied Friday, Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province each reported eleven cases tied to a church, a facility for the elderly and a military unit in Pocheon.

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.