TCS FOUND TO HAVE VIOLATED SAFETY RULES

[Anchor Lead]

More than 100 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at an unaccredited school run by a church in the city of Gwangju. The facility has been found to have violated all COVID-19 prevention rules by having the students live in a crowded building and share rooms.

[Pkg]

This four-story building belongs to Hanmaeum Church operated by the TCS International School in Gwangju. The church is located on the first floor. The second and third floors are occupied by classrooms. The school's 97 students and 25 teachers had classes inside the church all day, having conversations and singing together. They spent a long time in a confined and crowded space.

[Soundbite] LOCAL VENDOR(VOICE ALTERED) : "They had meals in a nearby cafeteria before going upstairs to study. There is a classroom on the fourth floor. They gathered there to study."

The students slept in dormitories located at two nearby houses. Health authorities presume some of the rooms were shared by more than ten students. The situation bears much resemblance to the IEM International School in Daejeon, where 20 students had shared a room. All of the teachers and 80 percent of the students eventually contracted COVID-19 in an environment where the virus spreads easily. With so many cases detected at once, the epidemiological investigation is proceeding slowly. Anxiety over community spread is escalating, as some members of the school were found to have left the building after being confirmed with the coronavirus.

[Soundbite] LOCAL VENDOR(VOICE ALTERED) : "(Isn't it worrisome?) It is. We're here because we're worried. Parents of schoolchildren are in a panic now."

Quarantine authorities are trying desperately to find out the route of the infections by tracing the movements of the church students, teachers and parishioners.