By Jun Ji-hye
Health authorities are showing concerns that the number of new COVID-19 cases could rise again after the country held its general election Wednesday. It was the world’s first nationwide election held during the pandemic.
The polls had a 66 percent voter turnout, the highest in 28 years, while over 10,000 voters who have been under two-week self-quarantine cast their votes as well.
The National Election Commission had allowed those who had been ordered to isolate themselves between April 1 and 14 and shown no symptoms of the virus to vote at polling stations after regular voting ended at 6 p.m.
The government took tightened quarantine measures at polling stations, asking voters to wear face masks, sanitize their hands and wear plastic gloves.
The nation’s number of daily new coronavirus cases have hovered below 30 for the fourth straight day, with 22 new cases detected Wednesday. Four more deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 229.
The authorities said it is too early to relax, being mindful of concerns over possible infection clusters following the nationwide election.
“Considering the incubation period of the virus, we need to wait at least one or two weeks to see whether the government’s quarantine measures on the voting day were effective,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said during a briefing.
Meanwhile, the government will report three quarantine rule violators during the election to the police in accordance with its zero tolerance for people violating self-isolation guidelines.
According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, 11,151 out of 59,918 eligible voters under self-quarantine cast their votes at polling stations.
The self-isolators include people who came into contact with infected patients, and those who returned home from overseas amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
They were asked to follow strict quarantine guidelines such as reporting their every movement to health authorities through a smartphone application and returning to where they were self-isolating immediately after voting.
But six self-isolators were found to have broken the voting guidelines, the authorities said, noting that, of those, the government has decided to report three to the police.
One visited a billiard room and a PC room, while another visited a supermarket and a friend’s home. The other visited a smartphone store.
“We will not report two people to the police as their violations were minor,” a government official said. “We are still investigating whether to report one more case the police.”
The government earlier said those who did not follow voting guidelines will be regarded as self-isolation violators, and could be jailed for up to one year or fined up to 10 million won ($8,200).
