COVID-19 Resurgence Triggers Emergency at Seoul Metropolitan Area Workplaces... LG and Hynix Confirm Cases

One R&D Center Employee Tested Positive Each
Strengthened Quarantine and Related Staff Work from Home

[Asia Economy Reporters Dongwoo Lee, Gimin Lee] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) resurges, confirmed cases are rapidly increasing at major companies' workplaces and R&D centers in the Seoul metropolitan area.

According to the business community on the 20th, a COVID-19 case was confirmed at LG Electronics' Gasan R&D Campus located in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul. One employee of the Appliances Research Institute at LG Electronics' R&D Campus was classified as a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case the previous day, was pre-quarantined, and received a final positive diagnosis on the morning of the 20th.

LG Electronics plans to disinfect the entire building where the confirmed case occurred and close it until this weekend. About 100 employees on the 14th floor, where the confirmed case was found, will work from home starting that day and undergo COVID-19 testing.

The company has recently shared response guidelines internally in accordance with social distancing level 2, due to the resurgence of COVID-19 mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area, and is restricting access of external visitors to all workplaces and buildings. Business trips between sites, face-to-face meetings, group training sessions, and group dinners are also prohibited.

Earlier, on the 17th, one employee at the LG Building located at Seoul Station was confirmed positive for COVID-19, and on the 15th, a confirmed case occurred at LG Display's Paju plant, an LG Group affiliate, leading to disinfection measures.

On the same day, one office worker at SK Hynix's Icheon Campus R&D Center in Gyeonggi-do was also confirmed positive for COVID-19. The employee came to work on the 18th but did not come to work the following day due to symptoms and underwent testing.

SK Hynix implemented emergency disinfection measures and quarantined members who had overlapping movement paths. The floor of the building where the employee works was disinfected and closed for one day.

POSCO confirmed a COVID-19 case in an employee working at the POSCO Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, the previous day and took disinfection measures. Due to the confirmed case, POSCO will start two-shift work-from-home arrangements for about 1,500 employees at the POSCO Center from that day.

Hyundai Steel will also begin a three-group work-from-home system for employees working in the Seoul area from that day until the 28th. This is being implemented as a preventive measure due to the concentration of confirmed cases in the Seoul metropolitan area recently.

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