Inmates Infected With COVID-19 At Seoul Detention Center Transferred To Prison In Southeastern Region

Hundreds of inmates of a Seoul detention center infected with the new coronavirus were transferred to a prison in the southeastern region on Monday, the justice ministry said

SEOUL (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Dec, 2020 ) :Hundreds of inmates of a Seoul detention center infected with the new coronavirus were transferred to a prison in the southeastern region on Monday, the justice ministry said.

A total of 528 cases linked to Dongbu Detention Center in eastern Seoul was confirmed as of Sunday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). They include 488 inmates and 21 prison officials, and none of them have shown serious symptoms.

Of the prisoners, some 350 were moved to a correctional facility in Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province, about 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

They will be accommodated in solitary confinement cells, and medical staff will be dispatched there to take care of them, it added.

Elderly inmates and those with underlying medical conditions were excluded from the transfer, the ministry said.

If infected inmates have severe symptoms, they will be sent to hospitals.

"The Cheongsong prison has been designated as a residential treatment center as there are many solitary confinement units there because it was used for felony offenders," a justice ministry official said.

Several residents from the county of Cheongsong gathered in front of the prison in protest against the transfer, citing the potential risk of virus transmission in the community through correctional officers who could come in contact with the patients.

The county office pledged to take strict measures to prevent infection. After three days of work, correctional officers will go into two-week self-quarantine at a separate facility, Lee Jung-hwan, a county official in charge of safety and disaster control, said.