Seoul city sets up quarantine facility

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Friday that the Seoul Human Resource Development Center in southern Seoul will be used to house many of those currently in home quarantine for the new coronavirus. 

The facility will be used to house people required to go into quarantine who have difficulty getting around or have no one living with them who can provide care, or if the infection is deemed likely to spread among family members.

The head of the public health center in each district will decide who should go to the facility, Seoul City said.

The facility, which is capable of housing 30 individuals in single rooms with separate bathroom facilities, will be staffed by medical personnel. Seoul City plans to designate further isolation facilities if the Seoul Human Resource Development Center reaches 80 percent capacity or if the government raises the coronavirus alert level.

The move comes as another patient has been confirmed to have the virus, pushing up Korea’s total to 24. The latest confirmed case involves a 28-year-old man who was in quarantine in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, after returning from Wuhan in China’s Hubei province.

The 24th patient is a colleague of the 13th patient, also a 28-year-old man. The authorities believe the 24th patient probably contracted the virus in China, rather than in quarantine.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)