Bonghwa County officials announce the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday. Yonhap
Thirty-four people at a nursing home were confirmed to have the new coronavirus on Wednesday, fanning fears of further mass transmission incidents.
On Thursday, the government’s COVID-19 response team revealed that 34 people at a nursing home in Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang Province had been diagnosed with the illness, pushing up the total for the facility to 36.
So far, nearly two-thirds of COVID-19 cases in South Korea have resulted from mass transmission incidents, with hospitals and religious groups acting as localized centers of contagion.
As of midnight Wednesday, 5,766 people in Korea have been confirmed to have the virus. Of these, 5,187 are from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, more than half of which are connected to Shincheonji.
Shincheonji is a Christianity-based cult considered heretical by mainstream churches.
While Shincheonji accounts for the vast majority of mass transmission cases, minor clusters have been identified in hospitals, other religious groups and nursing facilities with no ties to the group.
In North Gyeongsang Province, there have been at least eight cases of mass transmission not traceable to Shincheonji, with Deanam Hospital in Cheongdo County accounting for about 1 in 8 of the province’s 861 cases.
In addition to Deanam Hospital, where poor living conditions for its patients have been partly blamed for the rapid spread of the virus, a group from the Andong Catholic diocese who went on a pilgrimage together has produced 49 confirmed cases. A disabled nursing home in Chilgok as produced 24 patients, while Seorin nursing home in Gyeongsan has produced 13.
Seoul has also seen mass transmission cases, with about 60 percent of the cases in the capital being linked to such incidents. So far, 14 people connected to St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul’s Eunpyeong-gu have been confirmed to have the virus, while 12 people were infected in an apartment complex in eastern Seoul.
By region, South Chungcheong Province has been most affected by mass transmission, with more than 90 percent of the cases in the area being results of such incidences.
Of South Chungcheong Province’s 86 cases, at least 80 are linked to an exercise class.
The province is followed by Busan, more than 70 percent of whose 92 cases are results of mass transmission. In Busan, Onchun Church – which has no ties to Shincheonji – has had 33 members of its congregation diagnosed with COVID-19.
By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)