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South Korean President Moon Jae-in offers a message of encouragement to government workers after a countermeasures meeting in Daegu, the epicenter of South Korea’s novel coronavirus outbreak, on Feb. 25. (Blue House photo pool)

The South Korean government is focusing all its resources on preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, the top two figures in the current administration, both visited Daegu on Feb. 25. Moon promised “extraordinary measures,” while Chung, who was put in charge of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters after the government elevated the infectious disease alert status to “red” (the highest of four levels), took up residence in the city to personally assume command of the fight against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The government believes that the upcoming week offers the best window to prevent COVID-19 from becoming a national epidemic.

After arriving in Daegu on Tuesday afternoon, Moon visited four sites — Daegu City Hall, Nam (South) District Office, Daegu Medical Center, and East Daegu Train Station — to check on efforts to contain and treat the disease. “Declaring [Daegu to be] a special disaster area won’t be adequate,” Moon said during a regional action meeting held at Daegu City Hall, promising even more support.

“We have to create a definite inflection point in the increasing number of confirmed cases within the week. We’re working on extraordinary support measures to reduce the damage to society and to the economy,” Moon said. During a visit to the city’s Nam District Office, as the district has seen the largest number of cases in the city, Moon said the government “is doing everything in its power to provide the support that Daegu needs” and promised to keep doing so in the future.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (far right) heads to a cabinet meeting on coronavirus countermeasures at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Feb. 25. (Yonhap News)

Moon underlined concerns that medically disadvantaged sectors might be neglected. “There are grave concerns that vulnerable sectors may not receive adequate care. Since the spring semester has been delayed, parents need to be allowed to take leave to look after [their children], and we need to ensure we’re not remiss in caring for the elderly and those with disabilities. If welfare centers are closed, lunch boxes should be delivered instead,” Moon said.

“After the school semester resumes, there needs to be a system in place [to check for] fever, and masks should be distributed to each student,” Moon told Daegu’s superintendent of schools, Kang Eun-hui. Moon also asked Yeo Hwan-seop, head of the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office, to “do as much as possible for people in prison.”

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin and the heads of other local governments have requested full support from the central government, with Kwon asking for 5 million masks. With tears streaming down his face, Cho Jae-gu, head of the Nam District Office, begged the government for financial assistance. The district, Cho said, “is in the worst fiscal shape of anywhere in the country.”

Moon paid a visit to the Daegu Medical Center, where some 100 patients are being treated under quarantine. “A small number of medical workers are using every last ounce of their strength. I’m worried that overwork will harm their health and that they might get infected,” he said.

Chung, the prime minister, arrived in Daegu following a cabinet meeting at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Tuesday morning. He intends to stay in Daegu for the time being to personally oversee disease control efforts on the ground. “As the head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, I will be working with the citizens of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province to quickly deal with the situation,” Chung said during the cabinet meeting.

In that same meeting, cabinet members approved a plan to take emergency measures to stabilize the country’s supply of masks in response to the scarcity that’s been evident since the coronavirus began to spread. The National Tax Service also announced on Tuesday that it would be investigating 260 related companies, including 41 mask manufacturers, in connection with illegal activities such as making transactions without proper documentation and buying up masks in an attempt to corner the market. Cabinet members also passed a plan to allocate emergency funding for managing housing for Chinese students entering the country, which will enable the Ministry of Education to promptly disburse the necessary funding to each university.

By Seong Yeon-cheol and Lee Wan, staff reporters

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