December 21st – According to a report by South Korea’s Korean Daily on the 21st, an epidemic broke out in the Seoul detention center where former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was taken. One prisoner was diagnosed with COVID-19 after his release.
At present, 35 detention center staff and 50 prisoners are being tested. The report did not mention whether Park Geun-hye had contact with the prisoner. Earlier, there was an outbreak of collective infection in the eastern Seoul detention center where former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was taken into custody, with a total of 185 people diagnosed.
According to the Ministry of Justice of South Korea, a prisoner was taken into Seoul Detention Center, where Park Geun-hye is located, on December 11 to receive reform through labor. The man was released on the 19th and tested for COVID-19 the next afternoon (20th). He tested positive on the 21st.
It is reported that the prisoner is taken into a quarantine building and also uses a single cell.
People from the Ministry of Justice of South Korea believe that he may have been infected but without symptoms when he was taken into custody, or he was infected after being released from prison. An epidemiological survey is currently under way, and 35 detention center staff and 50 prisoners who have come into contact with them are also being tested.
In May this year, Park Geun-hye’s detention center also had an epidemic. At that time, one prison guard was diagnosed and contacted 254 prisoners. In addition, on December 15 this year, a mass infection broke out in the eastern Seoul detention center where Lee Myung-bak was held.
A total of 185 people were diagnosed. Lee Myung-bak’s test results were negative.
