Gyeonggi-do Extends 'Gathering Ban' on Entertainment, Emotional, Danran Bars, Colatec, and Coin Karaoke Until the 21st

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has extended the ban on gatherings at multi-use facilities such as entertainment bars until the 21st of this month.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 7th that it has extended the ban on gatherings at multi-use facilities such as entertainment bars and coin karaoke rooms, which was initially imposed for two weeks from the 23rd of last month to the 7th of this month, for an additional two weeks until the 21st.

The facilities subject to the ban include ▲existing entertainment bars (clubs, room salons, stand bars, cabarets, singing clubs, singing bars, etc.) totaling 5,536 locations ▲emotional pubs 133 locations ▲colatecs 65 locations ▲danran pubs 1,964 locations ▲coin karaoke rooms 678 locations, totaling 8,376 locations.

These facilities must immediately cease operations. Violations may result in fines of up to 3 million KRW for both business owners and users under the Infectious Disease Prevention Act.

The province will also take legal measures such as claiming compensation and damages for all related quarantine costs including investigation, testing, and treatment from business owners or facility users if confirmed cases occur due to violations.

However, considering the burden on business owners, this gathering ban is 'conditional,' unlike previous administrative orders.

The province plans to lift the ban on businesses that submit a 'Commitment to Compliance with Management Conditions' independently through city and county governments.

The management conditions include ▲utilizing a visitor management system through mobile QR code authentication ▲installing CCTV at business entrances ▲limiting occupancy to one person per 4㎡ of permitted area or one person per 1㎡ of customer use area (halls, rooms, etc.) in densely populated facilities ▲maintaining a 1-meter distance between tables, ventilating and disinfecting at least twice a day ▲checking for fever, respiratory symptoms, and recent overseas travel history at entrances ▲mandatory mask-wearing for owners, employees, and users ▲maintaining a minimum distance of 1 to 2 meters between users inside the facility.

To this end, the province has instructed the 31 cities and counties to form review committees capable of deliberating and deciding on lifting the ban, and to submit the status of businesses confirmed for ban lifting through these committees from the date of the administrative order announcement until the lifting date.

A provincial official explained, "Due to the increase in unpredictable infection cases in the metropolitan area and the high risk of further community spread, especially many cases caused by close contact among users in multi-use facilities, we have extended the administrative order as an emergency measure to prevent this."

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