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A major street in Daegu is empty on Feb. 20 in the aftermath of numerous novel coronavirus cases being confirmed at a local church and hospital. (Yonhap News)

South Korea has seen its first fatality among confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, as fears about the virus spreading inside hospitals prove true. In addition, the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped by 53 on Feb. 20, with most of the new cases occurring in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, according to an announcement by South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). That brings the total number of cases in South Korea to 104. After concluding that the outbreak has reached the initial stage of community transmission, a step it hadn’t taken the day before, Seoul has decided to beef up its disease control measures.

Figures released by KCDC show that 53 more cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, were confirmed on Thursday and that 51 of these infected are residents of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. Among the newly confirmed patients, 28 of them attended services at the Daegu branch of the Shincheonji (New World) church, where the virus appears to have spread in the cramped confines of a religious service. There are also 15 confirmed cases connected with Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province, which had been visited by the 31st patient; one of the hospital cases was the 63-year-old man who passed away. He died early in the morning on Feb. 19, while hospitalized there, and only tested positive for the coronavirus after his death.

“We’ve confirmed that the cause of death is pneumonia. We will be releasing our assessment of a connection with COVID-19 after analyzing medical records and video footage and reviewing those with clinical professionals,” said a KCDC spokesperson. After two patients in the psychiatric ward at Daenam Hospital tested positive on the previous day, the KCDC is running tests on about 120 people, including patients and hospital staff.

“We still don’t know whether the disease was transmitted by a patient, a visitor, or a staff member, but we do know that the virus has penetrated the hospital and that we need to determine the scope of exposure inside the hospital,” said Eom Jung-sik, a professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Gil Hospital.

Transmission inside hospitals is something that the public health authorities have been watching for since the COVID-19 outbreak began in the country. While the virus is very contagious, many patients have only had mild symptoms, but if the virus spreads to hospitals, it would likely have a more serious effect on the patients gathered there, many of whom are already in poor health. If medical personnel are infected, they could spread the disease to more patients. That would also reduce the number of staff available to care for the sick, which could even force hospitals to shut down.

Since Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are the only areas that saw a large increase in confirmed cases, the public health authorities are focusing on uncovering a link between the Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo and the Shincheonji church in Daegu, which was attended by the 31st patient.

“Since we’ve confirmed that the 31st patient visited Cheongdo in early February, we are considering the possibility that the two outbreaks share a common source of transmission. We’re taking disease control steps and carrying out an epidemiological survey that involves testing all the patients and employees at the Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo,” said Jung Eun-kyeong, KCDC director.

“The elder brother of the leader of Shincheonji passed away in the emergency room of Daenam Hospital at the end of last month, and a funeral was held in the same hospital. A representative from a Chinese branch of the group could have attended that funeral, and we presume that the 31st patient was also present at that event,” a South Korean government official said.

Given the steep climb in the number of cases of COVID-19, the public health authorities also seem more tense than they’d been the day before. “Whereas the coronavirus had been entering the country from overseas, we believe that, at the present moment, it has begun to spread locally on a limited scale,” said Kim Kang-lip, deputy director of the central disaster management headquarters.

During an emergency meeting of related ministers about COVID-19 countermeasures on Thursday evening, there was reportedly a sharp debate about whether to elevate the alert level for the new disease from “orange” to “red,” the highest step on a four-step scale. “There was a discussion about whether to elevate the alert level given the large increase in the number of cases in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, but the responsible ministry is exercising prudence. The decision was made to follow developments before reaching a conclusion,” a government official said.

The South Korean government is planning to hold an expanded meeting of its central disaster management headquarters at 8 am on Feb. 21, at which officials will confirm and announce future countermeasures, including a support package for Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.

Of the 104 cases of COVID-19 that have been confirmed in South Korea to date, 16 individuals have made a full recovery and been discharged from the hospital, one has died, and the remaining 87 are in quarantine, where they’re receiving treatment.

By Park Su-ji, Park Hyun-jung, and Noh Ji-won, staff reporters

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