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| A cashier at an E-mart store in Daegu works behind a sneeze guard, a new private initiative by the company to prevent possible spread of the COVID-19, Wednesday./ Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
The likelihood of a COVID-19 pandemic recurrence this fall or winter is high and the government is preparing for a worst case scenario, Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), said Wednesday.
"The possibility is quite high for a second wave of the pandemic to hit us this fall or winter when people's immune systems are depressed, and we don't as yet have vaccines or treatments available for then," Jung said during a daily press briefing at the Sejong Government Complex. "The government is preparing for the worst case scenario where public medical services collapse."
Her comments came the day after the KCDC reported 11 new COVID-19 infections bringing the total number of cases here to 10,694, with 238 fatalities as of Tuesday. Among the 11, six were people who recently returned to Korea from overseas.
Regarding people who had recovered from the coronavirus infection, Jung said random testing of 25 people had revealed that 48 percent carried antibodies for COVID-19, but also DNA remnants. She said additional lab research was underway.
In other countries, research has found that the antibody rates in former patients were as low as 3 percent.
The Ministry of Health said Wednesday that it was drafting community hygiene guidelines, and would appoint officials tasked with ensuring their implementation at the community level. The final version will be made public after a review, it added.
As the daily count of new cases of the coronavirus is reducing, the government is cautiously projecting the easing of its social-distancing campaign.
Last week, it announced personal certain hygiene steps that included remaining at a full arms-span distance when meeting people, and sneezing or coughing into elbows or a tissue. A final version will be made public soon.
"Almost all experts in Korea predict the COVID-19 outbreak will affect us for up to two years. It is a fact that we cannot return to the way we were before the outbreak for quite some time and we have to accept this," said Yoon Tae-ho, the senior health ministry official responsible for quarantine measures.
Meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday the government was closely looking into possible illegalities committed by the Shincheonji Church of Jesus religious sect and will take the necessary legal steps against it. This response comes two months after a petition was filed on the presidential office's website calling for an investigation and punishment of the sect.
"We are aware of the gravity of the COVID-19 outbreak and are looking closely into any actions by the religious sect that violated the law. If it is found to be guilty of legal infractions then due punishments will be imposed," Chung Dong-il, a Cheong Wa Dae official, said in a recorded YouTube video.
The petition was filed Feb. 22, drawing more than 14 million endorsements.
The cities of Seoul and Daegu, and Gyeonggi Province have already filed legal complaints against Shincheonji, and the prosecution and police are undertaking investigations into the sect.
Shincheonji's Daegu office became a COVID-19 breeding ground in February, after the 31st patient reported here was found to be a member of the sect who was a "super spreader." Thousands of members across the country contracted the virus, drawing open anger from citizens some of whom took this online with the petition.
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