Ministry of Health and Welfare

(4.27) Regular Briefing of Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on COVID-19

- ▲ Preparations and plans for implementing distancing in daily life, etc. -

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters held a meeting today presided over by Head Chung Sekyun (Prime Minister) along with the central government and 17 cities and provinces to review the current status of COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken, and discussed agendas including the preparations and plans for implementing distancing in daily life at the Central Disaster and Safety Management Centre in Government Complex Seoul.

□ Head Chung urged, at the meeting, each local government to actively participate in the process of drawing up a final proposal by submitting opinions after reviewing the draft guidelines for distancing in daily life, so that a perfect level of the final proposal can be developed in the future.

○ In addition, he emphasized that all ministries, local governments, and public organizations should participate in the proposal to support small business owners through pre-payment and pre-purchase to promote domestic demand and revitalize the economy.

○ In the meantime, he ordered the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and relevant ministries to conduct in-depth research and review measures in order to create and implement new standards for eating culture in accordance with the advice of the Governor of Chungcheongnam-do who called for the need to improve the current eating culture which is vulnerable to infectious diseases.

1. Preparations for implementing ‘distancing in daily life’

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters shared the progress of the implementation of “distancing in daily life” and checked the preparations for this new measure.

○ Each ministry has arranged prevention guidelines for public facilities whose operation has been suspended and is preparing plans for phased re-operation of public facilities under its jurisdiction.

○ The government has unveiled basic guidelines for communities and individuals on “distancing in daily life” and the draft of specific guidelines tailored to each type (31 types of 12 ministries) (April 22, 24), and is collecting opinions on specific guidelines from each ministry in charge.

- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism gathers opinions in various ways, including interviews with related industries* (performing arts groups and indoor sports facilities), and online disclosure to the general public.

* Meeting with people in the performing arts industry (April 23), visiting movie theaters and gathering opinions from those involved (April 27, Sejong CGV), meeting with people in indoor sports facilities (April 27), etc.

- The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport collects opinions from transport operating institutions and the public through its website (April 25~27) to prepare specific guidelines on public transportation for infectious disease prevention and control in daily life.

□ In addition, each ministry organizes a task force (TF) dedicated to distancing in daily life in each institution in order to comprehensively and systematically carry out tasks related to distancing in daily life.

○ Each ministry’s task force dedicated to distancing in daily life will prepare guidelines that harmonize daily life and infectious disease prevention and control by reflecting the characteristics of the relevant fields and facilities and gathering opinions from interest groups.

- After finalizing the guidelines, each task force plans to check the implementation status in the field, resolve difficulties, and prepare measures for addressing problems, if any.

2. Prevention and control measures to block cluster infections such as cases in nursing hospitals

□ The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters grasped the status of high-risk group facilities through full-fledged investigation conducted on 394 cluster facilities at high risk such as nursing hospitals and living facilities in Daegu from March 18 after the outbreak of COVID-19.

* 67 nursing hospitals, 258 facilities for the elderly, 51 facilities for the disabled, 18 facilities for the homeless, or related to mental health and tuberculosis

○A total of 33,610 people* including employees, those staying in the facilities, and inpatients underwent testing, and 322 people have tested positive as of now (as of 21:00 p.m. on April 25).

* 13,215 employees, 10,159 people staying in the facilities, and 10,236 inpatients

- Facilities where a number of confirmed cases simultaneously occurred were periodically re-tested regardless of symptoms, and a total of 75 people were confirmed additionally.

○ In the future, in consideration of the current status of confirmed cases, facilities and hospitals with group infections will be periodically re-examined twice a week.

□ Meanwhile, the Daegu Metropolitan City Public Agency for Social Service is providing emergency care services to support nursing hospitals and living facilities that are difficult to provide services due to the spread of infection.

○So far, 849 people* have been provided for support in six facilities whose operation has been or will be suspended due to facility workers infected with the virus by providing substitute workers such as caregivers from March 9.

* 740 in residential facilities for the disabled, 19 in facilities for the homeless (2 facilities), 65 in local community centers for the disabled, 5 in self-support facilities for the homeless and 20 in local children’s centers

○In order to support the daily life of the confirmed patients in nursing hospitals, 1,187 care workers (caregivers) were dispatched to four nursing hospitals form March 12 to help residents in facilities including the elderly and the disabled to stay without inconvenience in daily life.