The number of frontline workers being infected with the coronavirus has grown since the pandemic started earlier this year. In South Korea, one of Seoul's biggest hospitals had to shut down some parts due to multiple COVID-19 infections.
Samsung Medical Center Closes Some Areas
Some locations at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul had to be closed after four nurses working at the hospital tested COVID-19 positive, Seoul mayor Park Won-soon revealed in a Monday media conference.
Park further revealed that 265 people are now being monitored for potential infection as they were in contact with the nurses who tested positive. The said number of people include not just other medical staff but also patients.
The infection route of the new string of infections at the Samsung Medical Center has yet to be identified. On the other hand, a taskforce is already investigating the case.
The infections at the said Seoul health facility marks the first time in South Korea that a major hospital reported multiple COVID-19 infections.
The news came following a string of infections around the Itaewon nightclubs center that infected over 150 people since the start of the month.
First Cluster Infection Since Easing
Earlier this month, health authorities in the country reported a new cluster of coronavirus infections linked to a 29-year-old man who visited nightclubs from the night of May 1 to the early hours of May 2.
At that time, it was estimated that there were around 1,500 people in the nightclubs visited by the infected man during the hours he was at Seoul's nightlife district.
Experts noted that the new cluster was detected after South Korea decided to ease out of previously strict social distancing and movement control measures to flatten the curve of rising cases.
There were also fears that some asymptomatic patients may be intentionally avoiding getting tested even if they were at the nightclubs in question during the first week of May.
With the second string of infections at the Samsung Medical Center detected, the South Korean government is expected to tighten movement regulations once more.
First Nurse Infected Not Linked to Itaewon Cluster
As there has yet to be a determined infection route for the new cluster in one of Seoul's biggest health facilities, there have been increasing questions about how the first nurse was infected.
Deputy director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Kwon Joon-wook clarified that the first nurse who contracted COVID-19 did not visit any of the nightclubs in Itaewon or was in contact with anyone who went to the district neighborhood.
Kwon further noted that the KCDC is expecting more new cases linked to the hospital cluster since there is a two-week incubation period. He said there is "a high possibility" that infections among health workers in the country will hike.
At this point, 25 operating rooms at the said hospital have been shut down. The hospital will also not accept any new in-patients for at least three days as part of the efforts to disinfect the area.
As of Tuesday, South Korea logged a total of 11,078 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
