20 Vietnamese students test positive in new Covid outbreak in Boryeong
They are housed in a city dormitory in the south of the country. Cases on the rise: 1,078 more infections in the last 24 hours. The government evaluates new limits on gatherings. Hostels for foreign students and workers are also a problem in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A group of 20 Vietnamese students housed in a dormitory in the south of the country tested positive for Covid-19 today. The structure in Boryeong (Chungcheong province) houses about 400, about sixty are Vietnamese. The alarm was raised when on December 14 it was discovered that one of them was infected; immediately afterwards, the health authorities started a sweeping check.
Cases of infection are on the rise in South Korea; in the last 24 hours there have been 1,078 more, bringing the total of infections to over 45 thousand. Although these numbers are far from the much higher ones recorded in Europe or the US, the government is evaluating the possibility of imposing new anti-pandemic restrictions. The most important should be to reduce the maximum number of people who can gather in a public place from 49 to 10.
Hostels - for students or migrant workers - have proven to be among the most dangerous epicenters for outbreaks of coronavirus. The first striking case occurred in April in Singapore, when 200,000 foreign workers housed in 43 facilities were isolated from the rest of the population.
The problem is also emerging in Hong Kong. In the Tai Po dormitory, which houses foreign caregivers and domestic workers, infections are constantly growing. According to experts, they represent a potential viral bomb, given that they are employed by about 400,000 families in the city.
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