Incheon City Offers Free COVID-19 Testing for On-Duty Police Officers to Prevent Security Gaps

Citizens waiting to be tested at the screening clinic set up at the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. 2020.11.10 / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City will conduct free COVID-19 testing for about 2,500 frontline police officers belonging to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency from the 16th to the 20th.

This testing is a proactive measure taken independently by Incheon City to prevent security gaps caused by COVID-19 infections among police officers, considering the nature of their duties responding to the public 24 hours a day to an unspecified number of people.

The test subjects are police officers working at 111 district units, police substations, and security centers across 10 police stations in Incheon. The tests will be conducted by collecting COVID-19 specimens at the responsible public health centers and then sending them to the Incheon Health and Environment Research Institute for analysis.

The city plans to also consider conducting comprehensive COVID-19 testing for firefighters and sanitation workers, who have frequent contact with an unspecified number of people, following the police officers.

An official from Incheon City stated, "Since COVID-19 has a high risk of silent transmission, we will conduct proactive testing targeting police officers who have frequent contact with the public during their field response duties to completely block the possibility of security gaps occurring."

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