S. KOREA SEES NEW COVID-19 CLUSTER INFECTIONS

[Anchor Lead]

Korea is dealing with a new outbreak of COVID-19 cases -- this time at a large logistics center in Bucheon City, Gyeonggi-do Province. So far more than 80 people have been confirmed to have contracted the virus related to the center. Cluster infections are expected to increase in the coming days as those infected have attended large call centers and product presentations.

[Pkg]

​​A COVID-19 outbreak that started at a large logistics center run by Coupang, one of the top delivery companies in Korea, continues to spread across the Seoul metropolitan area. Quarantine authorities are zeroing in on the possibility of more cluster infections as one of the logistics center's infected employees also worked at a large call center in Bucheon with some 1,600 workers. The outbreak could also spread to other logistics centers. One of the infected workers from the Coupang logistics center attended a product presentation in Daejeon on May 23. A Market Kurly employee from Seoul who shared a ride with the Coupang employee has also been diagnosed with COVID-19. Quarantine authorities believe that the logistics center's cafeteria, workrooms and shuttle buses might have been contaminated.

[Soundbite] JUNG EUN-KYUNG(DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION) : "We believe that the infection spread in shuttle buses and workrooms through contact among workers."

Quarantine authorities presume that the basic preventive measures were not implemented at the logistics center. Delivery companies, which have benefited enormously from a surge in online orders during the pandemic, have recently increased their workforce by hiring even college students and homemakers. However, they failed to keep their workplaces safe from the virus.

[Soundbite] (STAFF AT COUPANG LOGISTICS CENTER IN BUCHEON(VOICE ALTERED)) : "Starting from the second floor, many employees did not wear masks or only covered their chins."

As the outbreak continues to spread, the government of Bucheon City has resumed stringent social distancing measures.

[Soundbite] JANG DEOG-CHEON(BUCHEON MAYOR) : "Our priority is to detect infected workers from the logistics center and those who came into contact with them to stop the spread as soon as possible."

The Bucheon City government has set up additional testing stations and temporarily closed schools for grades one through 11.