It was belatedly confirmed that some of the attendants who accompanied President Moon Jae-in on a tour of the three Middle East countries, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, were confirmed to have COVID-19 following returning home.
A Blue House official said in a phone call with Newsis on the 28th, “Some of the attendants were confirmed to be positive as a result of a gene amplification (PCR) test performed following returning from a tour.”
It is reported that some members of the tour group, including multiple bodyguards, were confirmed to have been confirmed following returning home.
However, the Blue House said it might not disclose specific information regarding the confirmed cases.
The Blue House is minimizing the possibility of further spread by taking measures to work from home for a week for close contacts who have closely followed President Moon.
However, when President Moon returned home from a tour and worked from home for three days, there were speculations that it was not for separate quarantine measures in accordance with the occurrence of confirmed cases.
Earlier, the Blue House announced on the 24th that President Moon would work from home for three days following returning to Korea in accordance with quarantine guidelines.
At the same time, when it was announced at the same time that the New Year’s press conference scheduled for this week was postponed to respond to Omicron’s intensive response, there was speculation that it might be an unavoidable measure due to the occurrence of confirmed cases.
In this regard, the Blue House maintained the position that “the New Year’s press conference has become realistically difficult to focus on responding to the situation in which the omicron mutation has become the dominant species.”
[서울=뉴시스]
