Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon Issues Ban on Gatherings at All Multi-level Marketing and Door-to-Door Sales Promotion Centers (Update)

Order to Comply with Quarantine Rules at 7,333 Workplaces... Over 350 Table Tennis Centers Also Urged to Suspend Operations

On the 8th, staff and related personnel lined up to get tested for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a screening clinic set up at Wonmuk High School in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has issued a gathering ban order starting from the 8th, prohibiting meetings in the form of promotional halls regardless of the name, such as product presentations, education, seminars, and recreation held by door-to-door sales companies. For a total of 7,333 high-risk businesses including multi-level marketing, sponsor door-to-door sales, and door-to-door sales offices, an order to comply with quarantine rules has been issued.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announced these measures along with the current status of confirmed COVID-19 cases during a briefing on the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) on the morning of the same day.

Mayor Park said, "The COVID-19 situation has reached another critical turning point," explaining that the proportion of 'dark figure cases'?confirmed cases with unknown infection routes?was about 2.5% in May but increased to as much as 1.2% in early June, rising across various regions.

He added, "The increase in silent spreaders is directly leading to the spread of cluster infections in the metropolitan area," and stated, "This is a serious sign that could lead to a second major wave of COVID-19."

In particular, Mayor Park mentioned the case of 'Richway,' a health product sales office in Gwanak-gu where a recent cluster infection occurred, saying, "We do not know how many unregistered illegal businesses like Richway exist, so autonomous districts and special judicial police will strongly crack down on unregistered businesses."

He continued, "These measures alone may not be enough," and urged, "We ask citizens to actively report any suspicious businesses around them."

Regarding about 350 table tennis halls, the city recommended refraining from operation. Mayor Park explained, "We have issued an order to comply with infectious disease prevention rules for table tennis halls in the city and will intensively inspect compliance," adding, "For indoor sports facilities where intense activities such as GX, Zumba, aerobics, Tae Bo, and spinning take place, we have already recommended refraining from operation."

The city also made it possible for any citizen to receive a free COVID-19 test even if asymptomatic, simply by applying. Free tests can be applied for on the website.

Mayor Park added, "We will select about 1,000 people weekly to be tested at seven municipal hospitals," and "The scale of proactive testing is expected to be about 200,000 people in the second half of the year."

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