The Central Clinical Committee of COVID-19 on Tuesday released the photo of Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province where seven patients died and explained the reason for the outburst of infection there.

The committee said that seven people who died were long-term inpatients with underlying lung disease at the psychiatric ward. They rapidly developed pneumonia with the COVID-19 infection because of their poor overall health conditions due to long-term struggle against underlying disease.

These are images of a closed psychiatric ward in Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang Province, released by the Central Clinical Committee of COVID-19 on Tuesday.

The psychiatric ward is also prone to group infection due to the lack of natural ventilation. However, the Daenam Hospital placed the patients in rooms with a Korean floor heating system without beds, which created an environment that doubles vulnerability to infection.

“Usually, it is difficult to let the virus enter the psychiatric ward because medical workers control entry and exit, but the virus with infectious respiratory symptoms can rapidly spread once it enters the ward,” said the committee. “Globally, reported cases of new infectious disease in the psychiatric ward are very rare.”

The committee called for special caution on the part of long-term psychiatric inpatients because they may have lowered immunity due to a long period of hospitalization, which can increase fatality by up to 20 percent regardless of their age.

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