Pohang City Sees Surge in 'Safe Restaurant' Applications... Impact of COVID-19 Resurgence

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Pohang City, Gyeongbuk Province, is implementing a designation system for 'Safe Restaurants,' which are eateries that comply with COVID-19 prevention guidelines. Amid the recent resurgence of COVID-19, the number of applications for 'Safe Restaurant' certification has significantly increased.

According to Pohang City on the 22nd, since the end of June, a total of 550 establishments have applied for certification as of the previous day, and they are currently awaiting on-site evaluation results.

Pohang plans to designate 1,500 restaurants, about 20% of the approximately 7,600 general restaurants in the area, as Safe Restaurants to create a dining environment where citizens can feel secure.

The requirements for Safe Restaurant designation include: ▲providing utensils for serving food separately, ▲hygienic management of spoons and chopsticks, and ▲employees wearing masks. Pohang City intends to actively promote designated Safe Restaurants through SNS (social networking services), tourist maps, T-map, and other channels.

Jung Young-hwa, Director of the Environment Bureau of Pohang City, stated, "Although these are difficult times, small efforts by business owners can foster an atmosphere to overcome the infectious disease crisis. We hope that by creating a changed dining environment, we can reduce consumers' anxiety when visiting restaurants and further use this as an opportunity to revitalize the local economy."

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