South Korea has been scrambling to contain new COVID-19 clusters in Seoul as schools reopen, especially one in the Itaewon nightlife district, but it appears things have re-routed as a kindergarten student contracted the disease.
Schools Shut Down Amid Child's Infection
Seoul's education office confirmed on Monday that a kindergarten student has been infected with COVID-19, prompting several schools in Gangseo Ward to close down as the infected student resides in the area.
Kindergartens were supposed to open Wednesday, as part of the country's second-phase school reopening plan. However, parents have since raised concerns about the safety and health of their children.
Health authorities in Seoul believe that that 6-year-old boy may have been infected by his art teacher. The said art teacher is under Young Rembrandts, a private art institution south of the Han River.
The teacher in question personally taught 35 students until Friday. He also had direct contact with three other teachers at the art school. His positive test results were released on Sunday.
Disinfection has started in the building where the art school is located and all 38 contacts of the teacher have been placed under a two-week quarantine as part of the country's coronavirus protocol.
News of the kindergarten student and art teacher's infections came amid increasing cases linked to the now infamous Itaewon cluster.
18 New Cases Linked to Nightclubs
On Tuesday, 18 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed with links to the Itaewon cluster that continues to increase South Korea's previously flattened coronavirus curve.
The cluster now has a total of 255 confirmed infections and one of the latest cases involved a shocking seven stages of transmission, raising fears about the extent of transmission that the novel coronavirus can infiltrate.
Due to the Itaewon cluster and the new case of a kindergarten student getting infected, some Seoul schools decided to push back reopening by one more week amid fears of mass infections among students.
Furthermore, health authorities also have their eyes on potential spikes in new cases among travelers arriving to South Korea as other Asian countries have experienced a resurgence in infections, mostly imported cases.
South Korea's Cluster Crisis amid Supposed Reopening a Lesson for Other Nations
Meanwhile, some experts believe that other countries should still study the way South Korea is handling the Itaewon cluster as well as the potential rise in cases in schools.
Unlike other countries with COVID-19 clusters, South Korea's cluster numbers for the Seoul nightlife center are still considered moderate. Furthermore, widespread testing spearheaded by the Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) also helped detect cases early on.
In other nations with confirmed clusters, it has been difficult to control the spike in cases linked to clusters. However, South Korea appears to be managing the cluster well after lessons learned from the first known cluster in the country, the Shincheonji Church cluster in Daegu.
As of Tuesday, South Korea logged a total of 11,225 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 269 deaths from the fast-spreading disease.
