hankyoreh

Disease prevention workers carry out sanitation and anti-bacterial and anti-virus coating at a restaurant in Daegu’s Suseong District on Tuesday. (Yonhap News)

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus is spreading beyond Incheon into other parts of the greater Seoul area.

Disease control authorities are on the alert amid evidence that airborne transmission of the virus occurred at one Incheon restaurant.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) announced another 12 confirmed cases of patients infected with the Omicron variant Tuesday, bringing the cumulative total up to 36. Those 12 patients included three South Korean nationals who had arrived in Korea on Friday aboard a flight from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and tested positive during airport quarantine procedures.

While the arriving travelers had also previously visited South Africa — a country Korea has restricted incoming foreigners from — they were permitted to enter as South Korean nationals. Their infection with the Omicron variant was confirmed while they were staying at temporary quarantine facilities.

Another eight cases were classified as being connected with a church in Incheon’s Michuhol District, including some who were congregation members and others who were family or friends of congregation members.

Three of these cases were in international students attending universities in Seoul, raising concerns among city authorities. All of the international students tested positive after visiting the church on Nov. 28.

The final patient was the proprietor of a restaurant in Incheon where community transmission of the variant occurred.

An epidemiological investigation established that the restaurant proprietor had not interacted face-to-face with the customer believed to be responsible for the transmission — an individual in their 60s who tested positive for the Omicron variant — apart from when the customer was paying their bill.

Some analysts are speculating that Omicron may be more strongly transmissible than previous variants. The restaurant’s owner reportedly wore a mask throughout the individual in question’s visit to the restaurant.

Disease control authorities suggested the possibility that the restaurant owner was infected through airborne transmission of the virus.

“This is a case of an employee being infected by a customer at the restaurant. [Airborne] transmission can occur when people are together in an enclosed space,” said Park Young-joon, director of the CDCH’s epidemiological research team.

“There have been cases with the Alpha and Delta variants of the COVID-19 virus involving environments like karaoke rooms and churches that were crowded, close, and sealed, where it seems likely that the virus was transmitted not just through particles but through the air,” he explained.

At the same time, Park cautioned that it was “impossible to compare [the likelihood of Omicron’s airborne transmission] with previous variants under the present circumstances.”

“Based on overseas cases, it appears to be more transmissible than the Delta variant, and we’re leaving open the possibility [of airborne transmission] in our response,” he said.

Two of six additional patients targeted for epidemiological investigation due to suspected infection with the variant were identified as residents of Gyeonggi Province, suggesting that the spread of Omicron nationwide is already under way.

So far, all of the people targeted by disease control authorities for epidemiological investigation for the Omicron variant have been confirmed to be infected with it. The South Korean government is currently investigating 34 airplane passengers who were in close contact with the three confirmed Omicron patients traveling from Ethiopia.

The CDCH announced that 4,954 new confirmed COVID-19 cases had been counted as of the end of the day Monday. The number of patients in severe or critical condition was at an all-time high of 774.

Sixty-four deaths were recorded, the second highest daily total to date after the 70 counted on Saturday.

As the number of severe and critical cases has continued to rise, the occupancy rate for dedicated critical care hospital beds has reached troubling highs with 78.2% occupancy nationwide and 83.6% for the greater Seoul area. A total of 919 patients were counted as still waiting for hospital beds in the capital region.

The government has been running into difficulties ensuring the availability of quasi-critical care beds, used for patients whose severe symptoms are improving or who are seen as likely to develop severe symptoms.

“The administrative order [for hospital bed mobilization] last month had the aim of establishing 454 beds, primarily in the quasi-critical care category, but only around 166 have been acquired so far,” said Park Hyang, director of the disease control supervision team for the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.

“But in the case of critical care beds, the target was 692 and we’ve acquired slightly more, at 844, and that number is going to increase going forward,” she added.

One of the COVID-19 patients who died Monday was a child under the age of 10. It was the second such death recorded, after another child under 10 died on Nov. 28.

“A child under the age of 10 who developed symptoms on Nov. 25 and received a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis on Dec. 2 passed away while undergoing hospital treatment,” the CDCH said in a briefing.

The child who had been suffering from a preexisting condition, but the exact cause of death was not established. Disease control authorities plan to review the child’s medical records to determine the cause of death.

By Lee Jae-ho, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]