DIFFICULTY IN CONTAINING COVID-19

[Anchor Lead]

As more people related to the call center in Seoul have tested positive for COVID-19, alarms are raised that the virus may have already spread all over the Korean capital and surrounding areas. Authorities are having trouble conducting epidemiological studies as the confirmed COVID-19 patients live all over Seoul and nearby areas and have traveled far and wide through public transit.

[Pkg]

Disinfection service is underway at Sindorim Station in Seoul. The subway station sees around 390 thousand foot traffic per day, including some 90 thousand passengers. Many of the employees from a call center that turned out have a virus cluster, used this station to commute. The call center employees who tested positive live all over the Seoul metropolitan area. They reside in 12 districts, about half of all the districts in the capital... Some are from the cities in Gyeonggi-do Province such as Bucheon, Anyang, and Gimpo as well as six districts in Incheon. Concerns mount over a widespread infection in the metropolitan area, but disease control authorities quelled such fears.

[Soundbite] YOON TAE-HO(CENTRAL DISASTER AND SAFETY COUNTERMEASURES HQ) : "The situation in the Seoul metropolitan area is not yet as bad as that in Daegu and Gyeongbuk."

However the virus is spreading quite rapidly. About a dozen family members and friends of confirmed call center employees have already tested positive. The government must check for secondary and tertiary infections. Moreover, those infected have traveled all over Seoul and nearby areas and had long exposure. It's difficult to find everyone who came in contact with them. Finding people who came in direct contact by checking CCTVs in crowded subway stations or in public transportation is no easy task.

[Soundbite] JUNG EUN-KYEONG(DIRECTOR, KOREA CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION) : "There is a limit to tracking people's movements in detail when there are so many cases."

Each subway station is carrying out sterilization service once or twice a day. But there are limitations to disinfecting the trains while passengers are onboard.

[Soundbite] DR. JUNG KI-SUCK(HALLYM UNIVERSITY SACRED HEART HOSPITAL) : "There would have been many direct contacts as people commute by riding trains and walking through crowded stations."

Since they can only do so much to check each person's movement, quarantine authorities asked each individual and facility to be more careful and thorough with hygiene and sanitation.