Government "No Consideration of Movement Restrictions... Strongly Urges Refraining from Visiting Hometown During Chuseok" (Update)

Yoon Tae-ho, Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' Quarantine General Division, is answering reporters' questions after concluding the regular briefing on COVID-19 response. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The government has strongly urged people to refrain from visiting their hometowns and relatives during this year's Chuseok holiday to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). While it ruled out measures to forcibly restrict movement during the holiday period, it plans to implement quarantine measures equivalent to social distancing level 2.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters' quarantine team, said at a briefing held at the Government Complex Sejong on the morning of the 7th, "Although the number of cases is currently on a downward trend, cluster infections are still occurring in various daily life settings, and many patients with unknown infection routes are appearing," adding, "To protect the health of family and relatives, it is important to reduce long-distance travel and close contact during Chuseok."

Yoon also stated, "The government will actively provide customized lifestyle guidance according to locations and routes of movement, such as reducing crowding on public transportation like railways during the Chuseok holiday period, rest areas, and hometown houses," and added, "We will strengthen quarantine measures for ancestral rites, memorial facilities, and grass-cutting activities, and thoroughly manage quarantine in high-risk workplaces such as department stores, marts, and traditional markets."

The government has designated the Chuseok holiday period from September 30 to October 4 as a special quarantine period and is considering applying measures equivalent to social distancing level 2 nationwide. While monitoring the patient occurrence situation, detailed measures including the suspension of operations at high-risk facilities such as clubs and entertainment bars will be prepared. This plan will be finalized after assessing the effects of the social distancing level 2 measures extended for two weeks until midnight on the 20th.

Regarding the forcibly restricting movement during the Chuseok holiday raised by some, Yoon drew a line, saying, "There is a lack of legal grounds for such measures, and since it is a very strong measure almost equivalent to social distancing level 3, we must manage the situation well to avoid reaching that level." He added, "We are preparing measures to allow confirmed cases to occur within the control of quarantine, reduce the number of confirmed cases through social distancing level 2 at a level that does not burden the medical system, and appropriately manage such situations until the Chuseok holiday."

Meanwhile, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, since the implementation of social distancing level 2, the number of domestic confirmed cases in the recent week (August 30 to September 5) decreased to 218.6 per day, about two-thirds of the previous week's 331 cases. Yoon emphasized, "This is the result of the public, especially residents of the metropolitan area, actively participating and cooperating in social distancing despite various damages and inconveniences," and added, "If we practice stronger and more focused social distancing for just one more week, the occurrence of cases will be stably suppressed."

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