Closed Seoul City Hall 2nd Floor Employees Working from Home... 315 Tested

On the 20th, employees are arriving at the new Seoul City Hall building. After a confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported among city hall staff the previous day, Seoul City Hall closed the entire new building and carried out disinfection procedures. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] At the Seoul City Hall main building, a confirmed case of COVID-19 has been reported, resulting in at least 315 people undergoing diagnostic testing at screening clinics. The infection route of the confirmed case and close contacts are still being identified, so the number of people subject to testing may increase.

According to Seoul City on the 20th, the entire 2nd floor where the confirmed case was found was disinfected and sanitized late last night and is currently closed. Civil servants working on that floor left the building by 4 p.m. the previous day and will work from home on the 20th and 21st, undergoing COVID-19 diagnostic testing at nearby public health centers. If no additional confirmed cases are found, employees will return to normal work from the 24th.

The confirmed case, a resident of Gyeonggi-do, did not come to City Hall during the holiday from the 15th to the 17th, but arrived at work at 9 a.m. on the 18th, worked until around 3 p.m. when symptoms appeared, left early, got tested, and was confirmed positive on the afternoon of the 19th.

The office of the Seoul City Urban Space Improvement Division where the confirmed case works is located at the east end of the 2nd floor of the City Hall main building. On the same floor are the spokesperson's office, the New Media Officer's office, and other media response departments, as well as the Citizen Communication Officer and Human Rights Officer offices. Additionally, the City Hall press room and COVID-19 briefing room are located there. Reporters and cleaning staff who visited this area during the relevant period must also undergo testing.

With the briefing room closed, Seoul City has decided to replace the daily COVID-19 briefings held at 11 a.m. with written statements for the time being.

A City Hall official explained, "Excluding employees who were on leave on the 18th and 19th due to the holiday, about 40 Urban Space Improvement Division staff and 80 reporters have been identified as testing subjects, totaling 315 people so far. If the confirmed case’s movements are further traced and additional close contacts or other employees who visited the 2nd floor during that period are identified, the number may increase."

There are about 2,090 employees at the Seoul City Hall main building. Employees on other floors, who all left together with the 2nd-floor staff the previous afternoon, are currently working normally.

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