PRESIDENT MOON ON COVID-19 EPIDEMIC

[Anchor Lead]

President Moon Jae-in personally announced the decision to raise the disease alert to the highest level. He explained that the situation has changed drastically since the Shincheonji church incident in Daegu.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in held a government-wide meeting on COVID-19 yesterday. The disease alert was officially raised to the highest level of "red" as now is a critical moment that calls for concerted efforts of the central government, local government bodies and the people.

[Soundbite] PRES. MOON JAE-IN : "The alert will be raised to the highest level to drastically strengthen the response system. We must not hesitate to use unprecedentedly strong measures without being constricted by regulations."

He explained the reasons himself. That situations before and after the massive infection at Shincheonji Church in Daegu are completely different. The decision was reached based on the conclusion that the next few days would prove to be critical. Before meeting the President, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and other top officials held a closed meeting to discuss the need to raise the alert level. Previously, the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases and other medical groups proposed raising it to Red. It appears President Moon made this final decision, after being briefed on the matter. He asked for cooperation from the people while the government continue monitoring the situation and discuss additional measures.