Hundreds of inmates of a Seoul detention center infected with the new coronavirus were transferred to a prison in the southeastern region on Monday, the justice ministry said.

A total of 528 cases linked to Dongbu Detention Center in eastern Seoul was confirmed as of Sunday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). They include 488 inmates and 21 prison officials, and none of them have shown serious symptoms.

Of the prisoners, some 350 were moved to a correctional facility in Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province, about 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

They will be accommodated in solitary confinement cells, and medical staff will be dispatched there to take care of them, it added.

Elderly inmates and those with underlying medical conditions were excluded from the transfer, the ministry said. If infected inmates have severe symptoms, they will be sent to hospitals.

Hundreds of inmates of a Seoul detention center infected with the new coronavirus were transferred to a prison in the southeastern region on Monday, the justice ministry said.

A total of 528 cases linked to Dongbu Detention Center in eastern Seoul was confirmed as of Sunday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). They include 488 inmates and 21 prison officials, and none of them have shown serious symptoms.

Of the prisoners, some 350 were moved to a correctional facility in Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province, about 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

They will be accommodated in solitary confinement cells, and medical staff will be dispatched there to take care of them, it added.

Elderly inmates and those with underlying medical conditions were excluded from the transfer, the ministry said. If infected inmates have severe symptoms, they will be sent to hospitals. (Yonhap)