Disinfection at Every Seoul Subway Turnaround... Additional Sanitization of Handrails and Safety Poles in Carriages

Seoul Metro Increases Station Interior Disinfection to Once a Week
Restrooms Cleaned Twice Daily

Disinfecting a subway car (Provided by Seoul Metro)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Seoul Metro, which operates subway lines 1 to 8, will conduct special disinfection measures to prevent further community spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The corporation has been regularly performing disinfection tasks such as disinfecting train handrails and spraying disinfectant inside train cars even before the COVID-19 outbreak. As the infectious disease crisis alert level worsened to the severe stage, disinfection inside stations was increased to twice a week. Restroom disinfection frequency was raised from once to twice daily, and the cleaning of disposable transportation cards was increased from once every five days to once daily.

Disinfection inside train cars will also be significantly strengthened. Handrails will be disinfected every time the train turns around, and safety poles next to seats and spraying inside the cars, which were previously done twice a week, will now be performed every turnaround. Additional temporary staff will be hired for disinfection, and more disinfection equipment will be introduced to reduce the burden on personnel involved in disinfection.

When it is confirmed that an infected person used the subway, special disinfection will be additionally conducted on the train cars and subway stations presumed to have been used by the infected individual. In particular, the entire interior, including handrails and safety poles, of the train cars presumed to have been boarded by the infected person and those operated immediately before and after will be disinfected. The stations presumed to have been used will receive additional sterilization and insecticide disinfection on top of the existing disinfection measures.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 related announcements are broadcast more than 15,000 times daily in four languages: Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese, at intervals of 12 to 15 minutes. A total of 21,714 promotional posters have been posted inside stations, and 330,000 leaflets have been distributed.

On the 4th of next month at Myeongdong Station, the corporation will use its character 'Ttota' to promote the use of hand sanitizers and hygiene rules for COVID-19 prevention. On the 6th, together with the Seoul Eastern Workplace Moms Support Center, hygiene supplies including 1,500 masks and 500 emergency kits will be distributed at Konkuk University Station on Line 7 to actively promote COVID-19 prevention measures.

Choi Jeong-gyun, Acting President of Seoul Metro, said, "Please do not be anxious, and remember hygiene rules such as cough etiquette, using hand sanitizer, and wearing masks, and use the subway with peace of mind."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.