COVID-19 cluster infections rising at Seoul's educational facilities

Coronavirus cluster infections have been on the rise at young children's educational facilities in Seoul, the city government said Monday.

The Seoul government said as many as 270 children tested positive for COVID-19 last week as parts of infection clusters traced to daycare centers, kindergartens and other educational facilities.

The number of COVID-19 infections traced to an English language academy in the southern ward of Gwanak, for instance, reached 76 from Dec. 19-25, while similar clusters at two daycare centers in Dongjak Ward and Yeongdeungpo Ward reported infections of 58 and 28, respectively.

Last week's 270 infections from educational facility clusters marked a threefold increase from 90 such infections during the preceding week, the government noted.

Seoul also reported 152 COVID-19 patients related to multi-use facilities, 142 patients related to hospitals and nursing facilities, 78 patients related to companies and 34 patients related to religious facilities last week, it added.

The government said the capital's infection reproduction index has remained below 1 since Dec. 19 and the average daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was 2,258.6 last week, down from 2,684 in the preceding week. But the weekly number of COVID-19 deaths in Seoul increased from 163 to 178 in the same period, it added. (Yonhap)