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Medical personnel at a hospital in Daegu’s Suseong District prepare to transport patients to the Daegu Medical Center on Feb. 18. (Yonhap News)

A South Korean individual tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Feb. 18 with no recent history of travel abroad and no clear route of transmission. While the country’s public health authorities aren’t ready to announce a “national epidemic,” they acknowledged that the outbreak has entered a “new phase.” This was the first time they’ve officially used that term, which means that the coronavirus is now being transmitted locally, through secondary and tertiary infections.

The government’s central disease control headquarters announced on Tuesday that a 61-year-old woman living in Daegu had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. This woman, the 31st person in Korea to test positive for the virus, hasn’t traveled overseas since December 2019. She’s the third patient, along with the 29th and 30th, to lack a clear route or cause of transmission.

According to sources at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and the city of Daegu, the 31st patient was admitted to Saeronan Traditional Medicine Hospital in the Beomeo neighborhood of Daegu’s Suseong District for treatment following a traffic accident on Feb. 7. While at the hospital, she came down with a fever on Feb. 10 and was diagnosed with pneumonia on Feb. 14. She visited Suseong District’s public health center to be tested for the coronavirus on Feb. 17; when the test came back positive the next day, she was placed under quarantine at Daegu Medical Center.

This woman reportedly attended a church in Nam (South) District on Feb. 9 and 16, dined at a buffet restaurant at the Queen Vell Hotel in the Dong (East) District on Feb. 15, and worked at her office in the Dong District on Feb. 6-7. Family members who came in contact with her and patients at the same hospital have been placed under quarantine; tests on two of her family members have come back negative.

Since the route of transmission for the 29th patient remains uncertain, public health authorities are tracking his movements during the two weeks before symptoms manifested (Jan. 20-Feb. 4). Sources confirm that he visited an elderly welfare center in Jongno, in downtown Seoul, and a club for players of Go (a board game), among other sites. The 30th patient, the wife of the 29th patient, started coughing and feeling chills and muscle pain on Feb. 6; after that, she visited Seoul National University Hospital (Feb. 8), Kangbuk Seoul Surgery (Feb. 10), and Dangol Onnuri Pharmacy (Feb. 10).

On Feb. 10, this woman took lines 1, 3, and 6 of the Seoul subway (Dongdaemun, Seoul, Dongmyo, and Jongno 3(sam)-ga stations) and the airport railroad (Digital Media City, Incheon International Airport, Geomam, and Gyeyang stations), visiting Yongyu Island and the Gyeongin Arabaetgil Canal. On Feb. 13, she stopped by the Seoul Dongmyo branch of Myeongryun Jinsa Galbi, a short ribs restaurant, and a branch of Starbucks at Dongmyo Station.

“Even local governments that haven’t had any confirmed cases need to prepare quarantine hospitals and facilities, medical personnel, and means of transportation on a practical scale,” Jung Eun-kyeong, director of KCDC, said on Tuesday. Jung’s remarks are based on the possibility that more cases may turn up in which authorities aren’t able to determine the route of transmission.

In connection with this, public health officials have revised their protocol for dealing with COVID-19, with the new protocol taking effect as early as the morning of Feb. 20. The new protocol will include administering a coronavirus test to medical personnel, family members, and others who have come into close contact with the infected before their self-quarantine is lifted.

By Park Da-hae, staff reporter, and Koo Dae-sun, Daegu correspondent

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