COVID-19 Complaints Double... Inquiries on 'Gwanghwamun Rally' and 'Wedding Ceremonies' Increase

Kwonikwi, Analysis of COVID-19 Complaint Trends
9,476 COVID-19 Complaints from 17th to 23rd... Twice as Many as Previous Week
Six out of Ten Cases in the Capital Area... "Increased Concerns and Inconveniences"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

#1. "I saw an article stating that citizens from XX city also participated in the Gwanghwamun rally on the 15th. I am curious about how the city is responding?whether they have secured the full list of participants, notified them for self-quarantine, and conducted COVID-19 tests on all." (17th, Gyeongbuk XX city)

#2. "What should couples preparing for an August wedding do? Is it possible to hold a wedding with 50 guests from each side? The government only makes announcements, leaving the couples and their families to handle it. So far, there have been no cases of COVID-19 spreading at wedding venues. Why block weddings but not rallies?" (19th, Ministry of Health and Welfare)

Source: Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

As social distancing was raised to level 2 due to the spread of COVID-19, related complaints surged twofold last week, reaching nearly 10,000 cases.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission analyzed COVID-19-related complaints collected in the complaint analysis system from the 17th to the 23rd and announced the results on the 27th.

The number of complaints during this period was 9,476, about twice the 4,768 cases from the 10th to the 16th, 4,747 cases from the 3rd to the 9th, and 4,303 cases from the 27th to the 2nd of last month.

Source: Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The top related keywords were 'confirmed cases,' 'metropolitan area,' 'public health center,' and 'mask wearing.' The Commission analyzed that these complaints increased as COVID-19 rapidly spread mainly in the metropolitan area recently.

Especially among keywords related to the surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases, new terms such as 'Gwanghwamun rally,' 're-spread,' and 'disclosure of movement paths' emerged compared to the previous week (10th to 16th).

Keywords related to inconveniences caused by the implementation of social distancing level 2, such as 'test sites,' 'weddings,' and 'examinees,' also increased significantly.

Source: Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

By region, the metropolitan area accounted for 62%, with Gyeonggi (34.3%), Seoul (22.2%), and Incheon (5.5%). Busan, Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Gangwon, and Jeonnam followed.

Considering population, complaints per 100,000 people by region were highest in Gyeonggi with 22.5 cases, followed by Sejong 22, Seoul 20, Gangwon 19.4, Incheon 16.2, Jeonnam 15.9, Daejeon 15.6, and Ulsan 15.2.

By age group, people in their 30s accounted for the largest share (34.7%), and by gender, males made up 62.3% of applicants.

Jeon Hyun-hee, Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said, "As COVID-19 continues for a long time, public fatigue has accumulated significantly, and complaints have increased greatly. We will listen more closely to the voices of the people and strive to promptly resolve inconveniences." She added, "We plan to actively inform the public of complaint trends analyzed regularly in the future."

Meanwhile, the Commission has been continuously monitoring big data collected through the complaint analysis system and analyzing weekly complaint trends. In the first half of the year, complaints were analyzed three times?in January to February, February to March, and March to May?resulting in the identification of 47 improvement tasks.

They improved various inconveniences such as extending the submission deadline for language test scores and allowing exceptional overseas mask export for international seafarers.

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