South Korean authorities were combing through mobile phone data, credit card statements and CCTV footage on Tuesday to identify people who visited nightclubs at the centre of one of the capital’s biggest novel coronavirus clusters.
More than 100 new cases linked to the nightclubs have brought fears of a second wave of infections in a country held up as a coronavirus mitigation success story.
Health authorities have tracked and tested thousands of people linked to the nightclubs and bars in Seoul’s Itaewon nightlife neighbourhood, but want to find others who they have not been able to identify.
Authorities fear that because some of the establishments were known as gay bars, people might be put off coming forward for testing in a conservative country where homosexuality is still taboo.
“We are using telecom station information and credit card transactions from the nightclubs to identify 1,982 of those who are not available,” health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) on Tuesday said at least 102 people had tested positive in connection with the cases linked to nightclubs and bars.
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon put the total at 101 confirmed cases and said 7,272 people had been tested in connection with the cluster, including the family members or co-workers of clubgoers.
Officials had identified 10,905 people who were in the Itaewon area at the time , based on cell tower information, and another 494 who used credit cards, Park said.
Media outlets have identified the nightclubs the first patient visited as gay clubs, sparking concern that the disclosures and media coverage could “out” lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people against their will or lead to discrimination.
Given the sensitivity, authorities have introduced what they call “anonymous testing”, with people only needing to provide a phone number and not a name.
South Korea has been widely praised for its prompt action on its epidemic with massive testing and aggressive contact-tracing, significantly reducing the rate of new infections in recent weeks to fewer than 10 cases a day before this new outbreak.
In all, South Korea has had 10,936 cases of the coronavirus and 258 deaths.
— Reuters
South Korea scrambles to contain nightclub virus outbreak
Image: AFP/JUNG YEON-JE
South Korean authorities were combing through mobile phone data, credit card statements and CCTV footage on Tuesday to identify people who visited nightclubs at the centre of one of the capital’s biggest novel coronavirus clusters.
More than 100 new cases linked to the nightclubs have brought fears of a second wave of infections in a country held up as a coronavirus mitigation success story.
Health authorities have tracked and tested thousands of people linked to the nightclubs and bars in Seoul’s Itaewon nightlife neighbourhood, but want to find others who they have not been able to identify.
Authorities fear that because some of the establishments were known as gay bars, people might be put off coming forward for testing in a conservative country where homosexuality is still taboo.
“We are using telecom station information and credit card transactions from the nightclubs to identify 1,982 of those who are not available,” health ministry official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) on Tuesday said at least 102 people had tested positive in connection with the cases linked to nightclubs and bars.
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon put the total at 101 confirmed cases and said 7,272 people had been tested in connection with the cluster, including the family members or co-workers of clubgoers.
Officials had identified 10,905 people who were in the Itaewon area at the time , based on cell tower information, and another 494 who used credit cards, Park said.
Media outlets have identified the nightclubs the first patient visited as gay clubs, sparking concern that the disclosures and media coverage could “out” lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people against their will or lead to discrimination.
Given the sensitivity, authorities have introduced what they call “anonymous testing”, with people only needing to provide a phone number and not a name.
South Korea has been widely praised for its prompt action on its epidemic with massive testing and aggressive contact-tracing, significantly reducing the rate of new infections in recent weeks to fewer than 10 cases a day before this new outbreak.
In all, South Korea has had 10,936 cases of the coronavirus and 258 deaths.
— Reuters
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