 |
| Material photo/News1 © News1 Reporter Kwon Hyun-jin |
Nine prisoners in the southern Seoul prison were confirmed to have a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) on the 2nd. Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice conducted a thorough investigation of all prisoners and employees of the southern prison camp.
According to the Ministry of Justice, one detainee who was working in a cooking facility in Seoul Southern Prison was tested positive after undergoing a rapid antigen test due to fever symptoms. Accordingly, a rapid antigen test was conducted on 35 inmates working with the kitchen, and 5 additional respondents tested positive.
The Southern Prison analyzed the movement of prisoners, separated contacts, and conducted a gene amplification (PCR) test on 102 prisoners and 20 employees, and announced that 9 people were confirmed on the 2nd.
Detainees working in the kitchen are in charge of preparing food for each meal. In terms of the military, it is the role of a cooker.
Since they do not serve food directly, they do not face each other directly, but if droplets enter the food during the cooking process, it may spread to a large-scale group infection.
However, the confirmed prisoners were wearing KF masks during the cooking process, and the inmates working in the kitchen are thorough hygiene management, such as heat disinfection and showering every day, so there is a possibility that it may not lead to large-scale group infection.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister Lee Yong-gu of the Ministry of Justice conducted an on-site inspection at 11:10 a.m. on the same day, and then installed a’Ministry of Justice Field Countermeasure Group’ in Seoul Southern Prison. The on-site countermeasures took measures such as quarantining contacts in one room per person, and conducted PCR tests on all staff and prisoners with the cooperation of health authorities.
On the same day, 42 non-confirmed prisoners were urgently transferred to Yeongwol Prison, while an additional single room was secured to isolate confirmed persons and contacts. 135 non-confirmed prisoners who were transferred from the Seoul East Detention Center to the Yeongwol Prison returned to the Seoul East Detention Center that day.
An official from the Ministry of Justice said, “We will conduct an additional PCR test to block the spread of asymptomatic infection.”
As of 5 pm on the day, the number of corona confirmed personnel at correctional facilities nationwide is a total of 1,274, including these nine.
The number of confirmed detainees by institution was 133 people in the eastern detention center in Seoul, 71 in the North Gyeongsangbuk-do prison, 9 in the southern Seoul prison, and 3 in the Seoul detention center.
There were no new confirmed cases in the eastern detention center where the outbreak occurred.