Gwangju City News

Reprinted with permission from Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall Photographs courtesy of Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall

Mayor Lee Briefs Gwangju on COVID-19

Due to the new spike in COVID-19 cases, Gwangju City Hall has been holding briefings almost daily to inform citizens about the situation and to reinforce social-distancing guidelines. The following is an important briefing made by Mayor Lee Yong Sup on July 19. — Ed.

Should citizens fail to comply with quarantine rules, it would lead to uncontrollable consequences. Strict punishment will be implemented for deliberate hiding of information or deviance from rules.

Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong Sup addressed the Lee added that the number of confirmed cases has citizens appealing for their strict adherence to continued to increase, and countless citizens are disease prevention policies stating that Gwangju suffering damages because one insensitive person visited City is still a hot spot for new infections, citing that one Gwangju after coming in close contact with a confirmed patient who came from Seoul has infected at least another COVID-19 patient but covered-up the trip after she also 11 persons. tested positive a few days later. As a result, 600 people

were tested for coronavirus in a single day, including 342 elementary school students, and another 128 people who were already self-isolating were put in quarantine for 14 days.

As a direct result, it is now difficult to predict how many additional examinations, confirmed cases, and selfisolations will emerge as the second wave of the infection has already begun, and the “golden time” (the period in which all potential cases are traced and tested) has been missed due to the false statement of a single infected individual: case number 60 (from Songpa).

In accordance with Article 18 of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Management Act, City Hall filed a complaint with the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency against case number 60 who caused the spread of infection through false statements for the police agency to review the claim for compensations.

As is shown from this case, no matter how many countless efforts the quarantine authorities make, they cannot stop the spread of the COVID-19 infection through personal encounters and contact tracing alone. Unless all citizens follow the social-distancing and disease prevention rules, the authorities cannot stop the spread of the infection.

It has been almost a month since the local infection started on June 27. Daegu had its first confirmed case on February 18 and 5,794 confirmed cases by the 23rd of the same month. To date, our city has 192 confirmed cases, but as we could see, local infections can lead to uncontrollable consequences.

In this context and as the Mayor of Gwangju, I want to reinforce my appeal to the citizens to follow the COVID-19 guidelines.

Firstly, please refrain from unnecessary outings, meetings and visits until the COVID-19 situation is resolved. Anyone you meet and anything you touch could be infected with the coronavirus.

Secondly, wear a mask anytime, anywhere, and keep strict prevention measures such as distance between people. Please refrain from close contact with your family members, being aware that no one will be safe until the COVID-19 situation is resolved.

Thirdly, public institutions and social organizations should also step up efforts for the safety of the community. Gwangju has a deeper relationship with its citizens than any other city, so there could be many private contacts. Through social networking channels, please actively carry out general mobilization to reach everyone to ensure that all comply with disease prevention rules such as wearing masks and refraining from close contact.

Fourthly, those who have been in close contact with confirmed patients should notify the quarantine authorities as soon as possible of the movements, places visited, and persons they came in contact with. Personal information will be kept private. In the future, deliberate concealment or non-cooperation will be punished more strictly and without exception.

Lastly, even if all of us have lost our peaceful lives and economic activity has been seriously interrupted, and many have lost their jobs, nevertheless, quarantine authorities and most citizens are making every effort to overcome this time of suffering and despair.

However, carelessness by some citizens is threatening the safety of the entire community. If citizens strictly follow the rules of quarantine and social distancing in unison, we will be able to overcome the present COVID-19 situation in the near future.