An emergency 119 staff member sprays disinfectant on himself after driving the country's 22nd confirmed coronavirus patient to Chosun University Hospital in Gwangju, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Kim Se-jeong



Korea will continue to grapple with new cases of coronavirus infection in the coming weeks, if not months, as more people than previously estimated have come into contact with infected patients, according to medical experts, Thursday.



"The third and sixth patients from last week traveled around the country without knowing they had been infected. The number of people they came into contact with surpassed 1,000 before they began showing symptoms and later were confirmed to be infected. That's why there were many confirmed patients earlier," Kim Woo-joo from the Korea University Guro Hospital said Thursday. "From the viewpoint of infectious diseases, this is an anticipated event, so anticipate more to come."



Kim noted the coronavirus outbreak is now spreading to small communities, putting everyone in the country at risk.



Four additional cases were confirmed here, Thursday, pushing the total to 23. Three of these ― the 20th, 21st and 22nd ― were infected by already confirmed patients, while the last, a Chinese tourist, is suspected of being infected in their home country.



The 19th patient who was confirmed Wednesday evening was a colleague of the 17th patient, and both attended a conference in Singapore together.



Korean Medical Association spokesman Park Jong-hyuk criticized the government's current approach to finding confirmed patients. "The government's main task is finding suspected patients quickly and sending them to special clinics where they can be diagnosed and treated separately from other people. But I feel like the government is failing them."



Acknowledging the spread to local communities, the Ministry of Health and Welfare called on people to pay extra attention to personal hygiene and coming into contact with others.



"We call for extra attention because the coronavirus seems to be spreading rapidly," said Vice Minister Kim Gang-lip during a press conference. "We are working to tighten quarantine measures, especially at the local government level."



Kim also said wearing a mask was becoming critical and the government would ensure an adequate supply at affordable prices. People found guilty of monopolizing sales of masks can face a prison term of up to two years.



The government also said it would revise its definition of suspected patients from those who have visited China to anyone with symptoms and a letter from a doctor advising further testing. This will allow anyone to be tested at the coronavirus special public medical clinics.



This comes after the 16th patient, who had traveled to Thailand, visited such a clinic and asked to be tested but was refused because she hadn't visited China.



The 20th patient is a family member of the 15th patient who visited The Place shopping mall in Wuhan in January. The 21st patient was infected after meeting the 6th patient. The 22nd patient is a family member of the 16th patient. The 23rd patient is a Chinese tourist who came to Korea on Jan. 23 with a group of other Chinese visitors. She is the first to be confirmed among Chinese tourists to Korea.



"Not just in Korea, but in Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong, more human transmission cases occurred, making everyone in the country vulnerable to the coronavirus," Kim said.

