Gwangju City Maintains Social Distancing Level 2 Until Weekend

If the current situation is maintained, easing to Level 1 from the 3rd of next month

Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop is announcing the results of the COVID-19 Public-Private Joint Countermeasures Committee meeting on the morning of the 29th at the city hall briefing room. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 29th that it will extend the ‘Social Distancing Level 2’ quarantine response system, originally scheduled until the 29th, through the weekend until August 2nd, and if a stable situation is maintained, it will transition to Level 1 starting August 3rd.

The city judged that although the COVID-19 situation is calming down, it remains serious and there are still sparks of regional infection spread.

The COVID-19 Public-Private Joint Countermeasures Committee held a meeting at the Gwangju City Hall Disaster Situation Room on the morning of the same day and decided this after reviewing various situational analysis data that occurred during the ongoing second wave of regional infections since July 27th.

Following this, Lee Yong-seop, the mayor and co-chairman of the Public-Private Joint Countermeasures Committee, along with Yang Dong-ho, president of the Gwangju Medical Association and committee members, held a press conference in the City Hall briefing room to announce the results of the committee meeting.

Mayor Lee stated, “Thanks to the citizens’ active compliance with quarantine rules, the measures taken by the quarantine authorities have been effective, and the regional infection situation is stabilizing. However, the COVID-19 situation remains serious, and we cannot let our guard down, so we have decided to maintain ‘Social Distancing Level 2’ until the weekend of August 2nd.”

Since July 27th, during the ongoing second wave of regional infections lasting over a month, Gwangju has recorded 171 confirmed cases (including 8 from overseas arrivals) through more than 10 infection links, with 70 patients still hospitalized.

Currently, there have been no new regional infection cases for four consecutive days, showing a stable trend, but the Public-Private Joint Countermeasures Committee’s condition for lowering the level?‘zero regional infection cases for more than 7 days’?has not yet been met.

Most confirmed cases have had their infection sources identified through rapid epidemiological investigations, but cases 161, 168, and 192 in Gwangju still have unidentified infection routes, and investigations are ongoing.

Moreover, with about 1,000 people under self-quarantine in Gwangju and continuous cases testing positive during self-quarantine (31 cases, 18.2% of total confirmed cases), the committee judged that “there are still sparks of regional infection spread.”

Especially with the official start of the summer vacation this week and the weekend approaching, it is a situation that requires heightened vigilance and careful monitoring.

The city plans to downgrade social distancing from Level 2 to Level 1 if the current stable trend continues through the weekend until August 2nd.

Mayor Lee said, “If the condition of ‘zero regional infection cases for more than 7 days’ is met or if the quarantine system can manage the situation, the quarantine response system will be downgraded from Level 2 to Level 1 starting August 3rd.”

With the downgrade to Level 1, Gwangju will lift bans on gatherings and events of 50 or more people indoors and 100 or more people outdoors, along with various administrative measures, fully transitioning to a system that balances daily quarantine and economic activities.

Mayor Lee emphasized, “For the quarantine response system to ease and for citizens to return to normal life, citizens must become even stricter agents of quarantine,” and urged, “Please thoroughly follow quarantine rules such as wearing masks, avoiding close contact, and refraining from visiting multi-use facilities, which are currently the best vaccines.”

He added, “We will actively work to revive the local economy suffering from the prolonged COVID-19 crisis and resolve livelihood issues,” and stated, “Gwangju has prepared and implemented seven rounds of livelihood stabilization measures to support job creation, small business owners, and self-employed individuals, and will continue to devise and implement additional support measures.”

Mayor Lee concluded, “Although this is a difficult and challenging time never experienced before, Gwangju has experience overcoming even greater crises wisely,” and expressed sincere gratitude to the citizens standing together with strong solidarity at this critical moment that determines the fate of the Gwangju community.”

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