(6th LD) Nearly 100 infections linked to Seoul call center, numbers feared to rise

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By Lee Minji

SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 100 cases of coronavirus infection were found to be linked to a call center in southwestern Seoul, the city's mayor said Wednesday, spawning concerns about potential mass transmission in the capital and surrounding regions.

Mayor Park Won-soon said as of 7 p.m., 99 cases have been confirmed based on a screening of 207 employees of the facility, so far the biggest COVID-19 infection cluster in Seoul.

Of them, 70 were diagnosed in Seoul with the remainder in nearby cities, he said in a media interview.

"The first source of infection has yet to be verified," he said.

"There has not been any additional infection case at call centers in Seoul other than this one," he added.

Park also said that no additional cases have been found yet outside of the 11th floor, where the infected people worked.

The call center is located in the 19-story Korea Building in Sindorim, one of the busiest neighborhoods in southwestern Seoul, with subway lines No. 1 and 2 that connect Seoul to nearby Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, as well as Gangnam in southern Seoul, passing through.

The incident marks the largest cluster-style transmission in Seoul, which is home to 10 million people. When including the nearby Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, the case poses a potential risk to the wider capital zone with a population of 25 million.

"Seoul city will make sure to respond in a certain and meticulous manner, so that the call center group transmission will not develop into the cases seen in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province," Park said in an earlier press briefing.

He was referring to the southeastern regions that have been pounded by infections related to the minor religious sect Shincheonji.

Commercial and office spaces on the first to 12th floors of the building, which include a wedding hall and a Starbucks franchise, have been shut down, while the city government is closely monitoring residents who live on the 13th to 19th floors of the building, he said.

The health ministry, meanwhile, said that five of the 207 workers were found to be followers of Shincheonji, which is associated with more than 60 percent of South Korea's total infections.

All five have so far tested negative, but the government plans to look into the case for additional infections. The city government also said it will probe for any possible links to the religious sect.

The infections at the Seoul call center were a chilling reminder of such enclosed spaces' vulnerability to viral outbreaks.

Health authorities in Daegu have also been put on high alert since a COVID-19 case was confirmed from a call center of a credit card firm in the city on Feb. 22. To date, a total of 20 cases have been found to be related to the call center.

In addition, more than five people have been confirmed to have contracted the virus at a call center of Samsung Electronics' maintenance service unit in the city.

Group transmissions, which account for 80 percent of all infections reported in South Korea, are deemed to be one of the biggest risks in the country's fight against the new coronavirus.

While the government has closed down schools and urged companies to use flexible working hours and remote working, infections have occurred in minor clusters in hospitals, religious services and even Zumba classes.

On Wednesday, the government again urged companies to distance proximity at workplaces and encourage employees to work from home after call center workers were found to have worked in a packed office, without wearing masks.

The Seoul city government also said it plans to monitor around 400 call centers in the capital and asked owners of karaokes, clubs and "PC bangs," or internet cafes, to suspend their business, if possible.

According to government figures from midnight Tuesday, South Korea has reported 7,755 infections since its first confirmed case on Jan. 20.

Cases in Seoul sharply jumped to 193, up 52 from the previous day, according to the data by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Separate data by the city government showed there were 205 cases in Seoul as of 10 a.m.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

mlee@yna.co.kr
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