Coronavirus fears have gripped South Korea as President Moon warned of a ‘very grave’ outbreak, officials screened 200,000 ‘cult’ members and a Korean Air cabin crew member tested positive for the deadly virus.
Concerns centred on the southeastern city of Daegu this morning where residents donned face-masks, wore vinyl gloves on trains, rushed to supermarkets to stock up on instant noodles and rice, and called friends to ask if they were still alive.
The streets of its usually bustling Dongseongro commercial district were quiet, with only a few pedestrians seen, as workers wearing black protective gear sprayed disinfectant at a deserted Lotte Department Store branch.
Efforts to halt the spread have focused on the city after more than 80 per cent of the country’s cases were identified there.
South Korea has said it aims to test the 200,000 members of its ‘cult-like’ Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which accounts for 68 per cent of the metropolis’ cases. There are 1,300 members of the Daegu church that are said to already be showing symptoms. They have been placed in mandatory quarantine with 8,000 other members.
The virus was first identified in the city in a 61-year-old woman from the religious group. However, it is unlikely that this individual set off the chain of infections as she has no record of overseas travel, authorities said.
Authorities said they had tested 13,000 people on Monday and expect to test another 12,500 today, up from about 7,500 a day previously.
A Korean Air cabin crew has also tested positive for the virus, the airline said, prompting it to shut its office near Incheon International airport and fears that an aircraft may have carried COVID-19 to other countries.
South Korea reported its tenth death from coronavirus and a further 144 new cases this morning, bringing its total cases to 977 since the outbreak began.
Coronavirus fears have gripped South Korea today. Above, a man in a hazmat suit sprays disinfectant outside Korean Air’s office at Incheon International Airport after one of its cabin crew members was diagnosed with the virus
South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in appeared on camera today wearing a yellow government emergency uniform and face mask as he said the country faces a ‘very grave’ situation. He is pictured at Daegu city hall
The President shown being briefed on the situation by the head of Daegu medical centre Yoo Won-Shik (dressed in white)
The outbreak in the city centres on the ‘cult’ Shincheonji church, pictured above, where 68 per cent of cases are reported
South Korea reported its tenth death and a further 144 cases this morning, bringing its total to 977 cases
Residents in Daegu, which was placed under ‘maximum’ quarantine measures this morning by the government, have said they fear contracting the virus which is shutting down normal life in their hometown.
‘I’m also a human being and scared of contracting the virus,’ Choe Hee-suk, a 37-year-old office worker in Daegu, said. ‘We call each other here and half-jokingly ask whether they are alive and tell each other not to wander around.’
Oh Sang-hak, a taxi driver, said he hadn’t worked for several days because he was uneasy about picking up strangers with the virus circulating in the city.
‘It’s like time has stopped … and there is just no movement,’ Oh said. ‘Until last week, we thought the coronavirus was someone else’s problem.’
Lee Nag-hyeon, 63, said he thinks media reports on virus fears in Daegu have been a bit exaggerated. But he said he saw a masked woman wearing a pair of disposable gloves when he took a subway on Monday. He said he also heard about convenience store staff wearing goggles when dealing with customers.
On Monday, people wearing masks stood in long lines outside an Emart discount store in Daegu’s Mancheon district as they tried to stock up on face masks, which have also been quickly selling out online.
Choe, the office worker, said she had three boxes of ramen, four boxes of cereal and three 20-kilogram (44-pound) bags of rice at her home. Lee said he began writing on his masks the dates he last wore them to re-use later, when there are no more available for sale.
South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in pictured speaking to the nation at Daegu City Hall today
Workers spray disinfectant on the ground at Seoul railway station in the capital, as officials battle to slow the rate of infections
A man wearing a hazmat suit sprays disinfectant in front of Korean Air’s office at Incheon this morning
At Daegu’s Gyodong traditional market on Monday, about half of the roughly 1,000 shops were closed, with the number of visitors declining recently by more than 90 per cent.
‘Maybe it would be better for all the merchants to shut their doors, but their means of a living are here. So some have made the difficult decision to open their shops,’ said Ahn Sook-hee, an official at an association of merchants at the market.
The virus is also changing the scenes at weddings and funerals, events that typically draw large crowds in South Korea.
At Daegu’s Gangbug Convention wedding hall, only two of the 10 scheduled wedding ceremonies were held over the weekend, with the other eight couples postponing their big day at the last minute. A typical wedding ceremony would draw around 200 people, but the two held on Saturday had only about 50 each, according to wedding hall employee Park Ye Jin.
At both ceremonies, everyone except for the bride and groom were required to wear masks. ‘We didn’t let anyone enter the hall if they didn’t wear masks,’ Park said.
She said most guests left without eating any of the food set up at the banquet reception.
Ahn said that all of her planned gatherings of relatives and friends had been cancelled, and that she recently skipped a funeral and just sent condolence money to the bereaved family. Lee said that even if a loved one of a close friend were to die, he wouldn’t go to the funeral – an event he would feel obligated to attend in ordinary times.
Choe said her family cancelled her father’s 70th birthday party, which was scheduled to take place at a Daegu restaurant this past Saturday with about 30 guests.
‘We just had barbecues at home, and my father was very disappointed,’ Choe said, adding that her family plans a more formal party for him at home later this week.
President Moon Jae-in appeared on camera this morning wearing the uniform of a government emergency official and mask to announce ‘the situation is very grave’.
‘We will achieve a victory in the fight against this virus,’ he said as he tried to reassure citizens.
Passengers pictured wearing face masks after returning to South Korea from Israel, which has also reported cases
Two workers wearing hazmat suits shown on standby at the Chonnam National University today
South Korea has ramped up efforts to test for the virus as it attempts to establish the extent of the outbreak. Each polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine that South Korea is using to test for the virus is running four tests a day, up from three in recent days, the KCDC said. Each test takes two to three hours.
The leader of the Shincheonji Church said it had agreed to give authorities the names of all members in South Korea.
The government would test all members as soon as possible to ‘to contain the spread of the virus and relieve public anxiety’, the prime minister’s office said in a release.
The ‘cult’ church has agreed to hand over names of all members of its congregation but has asked the government to ensure that these details are kept private.
The government’s goal is to stabilise the situation in Daegu within four weeks, Vice Health Minister Kim Kang-lip said.
North Gyeongsang Province has also seen surges in cases, most from a hospital in Cheongdo, and it was designated a ‘special care zone’ along with Daegu last week.
On Tuesday, 21 of the 33 cases from the province were confirmed to have come from a home for the disabled people in Chilgok County, also near Daegu, traced to a worker there whose mother is a member of the Shincheonji Church in Daegu, Governor Lee Cheol-woo said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, raised its warning level for South Korea and recommended Americans avoid all nonessential travel to the country, citing the ‘widespread, ongoing outbreak’ of the coronavirus.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries said they were considering scaling back joint training due, in one of the first concrete signs of the virus’ fallout on global U.S. military activities.
South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told a news conference in Washington 13 cases had been confirmed in the South Korean armed forces.