Gwangju City Extends 'Social Distancing Level 2' Until the 29th

On the afternoon of the 14th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, held a press conference on COVID-19 response at the city hall briefing room and announced the extension of social distancing level 2 until the 29th. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City has decided to extend the ‘Social Distancing Level 2,’ which was set to end on the 15th, for two more weeks to block the spread of local infections.

On the afternoon of the 14th, Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop announced through an online COVID-19 briefing, “This morning, we held a public-private joint countermeasure committee meeting and decided to extend the ‘Social Distancing Level 2,’ which was scheduled to end on the 15th, until the 29th.”

Mayor Lee said, “Although the spread of local infections is slowing down thanks to the tireless efforts of quarantine authorities and the active cooperation of citizens, the situation in Gwangju remains serious. With more than ten infection links, the coronavirus has widely spread throughout the local community. In addition, the number of major contacts and visitors continues to increase, so we cannot afford to be careless even for a moment.”

The contents of Gwangju’s Social Distancing Level 2 include ▲prohibition of gatherings, meetings, and events of 50 or more people indoors and 100 or more people outdoors ▲suspension of operation of multi-use public facilities (city, education office, autonomous districts, and affiliated public institutions) ▲mandatory mask-wearing on public transportation and in multi-use facilities ▲ban on visits to elderly nursing facilities and prohibition of workers visiting other facilities or contacting outsiders.

Accordingly, gathering restrictions will also be extended for 22 high-risk facilities, including 512 local door-to-door sales companies (including direct sales promotion centers), 11 government-designated high-risk facilities, and 11 facilities separately designated by Gwangju City.

Underground high-risk facilities that fall under the so-called ‘3Cs’?close contact, confined spaces, and crowded places?are also subject to gathering bans.

The city will extend the gathering ban for Gwangneungsa Temple, Gwangju Sarang Church, and Ilgok Central Church but will not further extend the facility closure orders.

However, for door-to-door sales companies such as Bitrade Co., Ltd., OnOff Global Co., Ltd., and rooms 505 and 1001 of Geumyang Officetel, both facility closure and gathering bans will be extended. The suspension of operations for university gymnasiums and various indoor sports facilities, as well as the gathering ban on indoor group exercises such as table tennis, badminton, and dance sports, which were ordered on the 12th, will also be extended.

The city plans to adjust to Level 1 if the public-private joint countermeasure committee deems it necessary, considering factors such as zero local infection cases for more than seven days and the ratio of infection routes or management within the quarantine network.

Mayor Lee said, “I deeply regret that we have to inevitably extend Social Distancing Level 2 for two weeks due to the still serious situation. Although it is inconvenient, if we become one team with the quarantine authorities and cooperate, we will put all our efforts into ending COVID-19 early.”

Meanwhile, since the second wave of COVID-19 began on the 27th of last month, a total of 137 confirmed cases have been reported in Gwangju.

By age group, there are 3 under 10 years old, 4 in their teens, 6 in their 20s, 9 in their 30s, 18 in their 40s, 31 in their 50s, 38 in their 60s, 18 in their 70s, 7 in their 80s, and 4 in their 90s.

From the 27th of last month to the present (as of 2 p.m. today), the daily confirmed cases are 4→4→3→12→22→6→8→16→7→6→8→15→3→9→5→7→1→1.

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