Nowon-gu, Promotion of New Coronavirus Prevention Using Free Public WiFi Network

Published 11 Feb.2020 16:57(KST)

The First Case of Using Public WIFI Network During the COVID-19 Disaster to Provide Useful Public Information and Disseminate Disaster Alerts to Residents

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] The spread of the novel coronavirus, which began in the Wuhan region of China, is raising concerns about new infectious diseases not only in China and South Korea but worldwide.

In South Korea, starting with the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus on January 19, as of 6 PM on February 10, there are 27 confirmed cases, over 3,000 symptomatic individuals, 2,552 people released from quarantine, and 531 still in isolation.

Globally, more than 40,000 confirmed cases have been reported across 28 countries, with over 900 deaths.

Following SARS and MERS, concerns about the spread of new infectious diseases like the novel coronavirus continue to grow, putting quarantine measures on high alert.

Alongside the “Corona Map,” which provides real-time tracking of confirmed patients’ movements via maps, sites such as “Corona Dashboard” and “Corona Notifier” have also emerged one after another.

Amid this, Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) has attracted attention as the first local government to provide a novel coronavirus prevention publicity service using free public WiFi networks starting from the 4th.

Nowon-gu has been continuously expanding its public WiFi service, which allows residents to use the internet for free to reduce their communication costs and improve information accessibility. In 2019, it was the first to introduce a customized district administration publicity solution using the existing public WiFi network.

This solution provides tailored publicity and two-way communication with residents regarding various district office policies, welfare, and systems, securing residents’ understanding and support for district policies, collecting residents’ opinions, and utilizing publicity analysis such as information reach and click rates.

During this coronavirus disaster situation, by using the public WiFi network to provide useful public information to residents, it became the first case of disseminating disaster guidance through a public WiFi network.

Nowon-gu not only offers free data services by providing an environment where any resident can use data for free through the public WiFi service but also actively uses it to promote resident administration and policies.

Nowon District Office expects that it will be effectively utilized to quickly respond to social issues like the spread of the novel coronavirus by providing beneficial information and publicity to residents.

In January, the Democratic Party of Korea proposed expanding “free public WiFi” nationwide as the first pledge for the April 15 general election, which is expected to further diversify the fields of application for public WiFi and customized publicity solutions using public WiFi networks.