Fight against coronavirus Workers erect a temporary negative-pressure quarantine room outside a hospital in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Feb. 21, 2020, to accommodate suspected coronavirus patients waiting for their test results. Of the 204 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, 153 occurred in the city, most linked to a religious group. (Yonhap)
The government is now saying to be ready for more unlinked coronavirus patients:
A notice at a public health center in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, informs people on Feb. 18, 2020, that the facility will be closed temporally for disinfection after the country’s 31st patient was checked by medical workers at the facility. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s public health authorities warned Tuesday that the country should prepare for more coronavirus infections not linked to known clusters as its latest confirmed cases are believed to be without links to other existing cases or to China and overseas countries.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the country is entering a “new phase” with some confirmed cases not being linked to existing spreads or clusters, which means that those patients are judged to have contracted the COVID-19 virus without traveling abroad or coming into contact with other infected patients.
The public health agency admitted that it is still unclear how the three latest virus patients — the country’s 29th, 30th, and 31st — contracted the virus as they had not had contact with other confirmed patients or been abroad recently.
“The three patients’ infection routes are uncertain … and there is a chance of additional similar cases being found,” KCDC director Jung Eun-kyeong said in a press conference.
The latest person infected in Daegu had not been to China or had contact with anyone from there and still got infected. Last month she visited a hospital in Seoul and used public transportation which may explain how she was infected. If she became infected this way how many other people are infected that is not known yet?
Another failed so called green energy project in South Korea:
Left, the 46-meter-tall solar power tower in Sobyeon-dong, Buk District, in Daegu, built in 2011 that cost 11.6 billion won (＄10 million) is being demolished in December. Right, after the demolishment.
A 46-meter-tall solar power tower in Daegu that cost 11.6 billion won ($10 million) was demolished last month after eight less-than-stellar years.
The country’s first solar power tower was built by Daesung Energy and the Daegu Metropolitan City in 2011 under the Lee Myung-bak administration, which promoted a low-carbon, green growth strategy.
The Daegu city government, aspiring to become a leading solar city, provided 20,300 square meters (218,507 square feet) of land to build the tower in the city’s Buk District. It was meant to be a solar power plant and employed 450 heliostats, reflective mirror panels that concentrate sunlight on the top of the tower. The concentrated solar energy was supposed to reach up to 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) and drive turbines to produce energy of up to 200 kilowatts per hour, enough for 80 households.
Of the 11.6-billion-won budget to build the tower, 7.15 billion won came from the Korean Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (Ketep), a state-run institute under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, while Daesung invested some 4.5 billion won.
But the solar plant, after being plagued by many problems over the years and unimpressive research results, has been reduced to rubble.
Daegu’s city government disclosed Wednesday that Daesung Energy demolished the tower last month, spending around 200 million won to do so.
A gang rape in Daegu is drawing national media attention in South Korea after a mother’s petition to the ROK Blue House draws large public support:
A petition to the Cheong Wa Dae website posted by the mother of a gang-rape victim has garnered more than 300,000 supporters in less than a month.
This means the presidential office should act on the petition within 30 days.
In the petition, the mother said her daughter is still suffering from threats from the alleged perpetrators and their friends.
“They boasted about raping my daughter and posted on Facebook their claim that my daughter had seduced them to have sex, which is not true,” the mother said. “My daughter couldn’t bear it and stopped going to school.”
According to Jungbu Police Station in Daegu, six middle school and high school students have been charged with raping the girl in April.
The mother said in an interview with a local daily that it was not six but seven involved in the crime, with one getting away because he didn’t have sex. She said the students and their parents never apologized. [Korea Times]
Here are how police in Daegu are hoping to help prevent crime by foreign workers in Daegu:
Seo-gu Bisan 7-dong voluntary crime prevention group members, Youn Seong-gu, left, Gul Na Deem, right, are passing by a tea room located in Bukbu Bus Terminal / Courtesy of Seo-gu Bisan 7-dong voluntary crime prevention group
Daegu Seobu Police have been cooperating with foreigners to jointly patrol areas where crimes by foreigners often occur.
On Wednesday, 16 members of Seo-gu Bisan 7-dong voluntary crime prevention group joined police patrols.
The area around Bukbu Bus Terminal where many foreigners hang out was their target area.
The crew included seven foreigners ― one Sri Lankan, one Chinese, three Pakistanis and two Bangladeshis.
“Bisan 7-dong around Bukbu Bus Terminal is one of the areas with a high density of foreigners. Crimes involving foreigners take place frequently,” inspector Kim Dong-sik said. [Korea Times]
Here is an article about a new open concept school that was constructed for DODEA students in Daegu:
Daegu Middle High School seniors Neena Ibit, Nurfatihah Melendez and Jonathan Wilson give a tour of their school at Camp Walker, South Korea, Friday, March 9, 2018.
Wander the halls of the new Daegu Middle High School and a you might feel like you’ve stepped into the future.
One of several “21st Century” schools that the Department of Defense Education Activity opened recently in Korea, Japan and Germany, the $20 million, 299-student facility is a far cry from most people’s childhood memories.
Its open-air studio classrooms are a contrast to the refurbished barracks where kids learned at Camp Walker before the school opened last fall. The school is so new that, on Friday, part of the cafeteria was cordoned off and filled with equipment waiting to be installed.
“This school is way, way bigger [than the old school],” said senior Nurfatihah Melendez, 17, during a tour that showed off spacious music halls, robotics laboratories and an impressive JROTC wing. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but unsurprisingly the administrator have found out that the open classroom concept causes sound from other classes to going on to be a distraction and thus need to install walls.
This couple will spend three years and six months in jail for what they did to this homeless girl:
A couple in their 20s has been jailed for forcing a homeless teenage girl into prostitution and sadistically punishing her when she refused.
Daegu District Court on Monday sentenced the couple to three years and six months jail on charges of forcing prostitution, intimidation and inflicting critical injuries.
The judges said the crime was “immoral and extremely grievous in its sadism,” causing the victim “indelible trauma.”
The court heard that the man, 25, and the woman, 21, met the girl in January after she ran away from home. They abused the girl for 16 days, forced her into prostitution 50 times and took the money she earned.
When the victim refused to offer sex services, the couple burned her with a cigarette and forced her to eat dog food mixed with their saliva. [Korea Times]
Great job by this soldier in Daegu who climbed a water pipe to assist a family during an apartment fire in Daegu:
A routine trip to the commissary turned into a lifesaving mission, Feb. 5, outside of Camp Humphreys. Staff Sgt. Victor Gomoimunn and his wife, Nicole Lysiak, were on their way to do their grocery shopping when she noticed smoke coming from a building just down the street from their home.
Gomoimunn, a petroleum supply specialist from Waterford, New York assigned to 339th Quartermaster Company, immediately ran towards the smoke filled building asking the gathering crowd if there was anyone left inside. Upon receiving reports that there was a woman and her young child still in their apartment on the third floor he ran into the building through the front door searching for a way to get upstairs to them.
“I saw the children standing outside and I was worried about them,” said Lysiak. “We know many of the residents in the neighborhood and when I looked up he was gone.”
“The building was filled with black smoke,” said Gomoimunn. “I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t breathe.”
Knowing that someone may still be trapped inside he began searching for another way in, explained Lysiak. He ran around the side of the building searching for another entrance before spotting water pipes going up the side of the building. They happened to run near a third floor window. [Army.mil]
You can read the rest at the link, but Gomoimunn climbed the water pipe and helped a family get on to a balcony and was prepared to help them down the water pipe when the fire department arrived to fight the fire.
I am glad the Korean authorities caught these two because I can’t stand people who steal or leave graffiti everywhere:
Police have arrested two Russians for allegedly vandalizing subway cars in Daegu and stealing clothes from department stores in Seoul and Busan.
Daegu Dongbu Police Station said on Monday that the two men, 22 and 20, allegedly painted the word “ONAS” — meaning “we” in Russian — on two subway cars at a depot in the city’s Dong-gu district around 1:40 a.m. on Oct. 16.
A Daegu department store employee reported the men to police.
After analyzing CCTV footage, police discovered that the graffiti suspects were wanted by Busan Jungbu Police Station on a charge of stealing clothes worth 7.5 million won ($6,620) from department stores in Seoul and Busan on Oct. 11 and 12, respectively.
According to Daegu police, the Russians stole the clothes and vandalized the subway cars “for fun.” [Korea Times]
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