Jeju Island Establishes Social Distancing Level 3 Equivalent Quarantine Rules for Certain Industries

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province announced on the 18th that it will apply strengthened social distancing measures equivalent to level 3 to certain industries where sporadic cluster infections have recently occurred.

Jeju Province has added more than 100 new confirmed COVID-19 cases so far this month.

In particular, confirmed cases are emerging sequentially through some transmission routes.

Specifically, there are ▲10 cases related to Seongan Church ▲24 cases related to Kimnyeong Cathedral ▲16 cases related to Halla Sauna ▲10 cases related to Daegigo.

Jeju, once called a COVID-19 safe zone, is now experiencing sporadic cluster infections occurring sequentially.

The quarantine authorities judge that cluster infections are occurring mainly around small gatherings such as meals, and plan to apply measures equivalent to level 3 social distancing to key management facilities such as saunas and funeral halls, as well as some general management facilities.

Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong said at a briefing that “the core link causing infections in the province is identified as small gatherings where meals and conversations take place together,” and “considering the overall pattern of COVID-19 occurrences, we will immediately implement strengthened quarantine measures under the Jeju-type social distancing level 2, effective from 0:00 on the 18th.”

Accordingly, bathhouse businesses will be subject to gathering restrictions allowing one person per 8㎡ of facility area, with bans on operating sweating rooms and cold/hot baths, bans on operating snack bars, bans on food consumption, and a complete prohibition of indoor sports activities such as aerobics within the establishments.

In addition, in consultation with the Office of Education, schools and academies will be fully converted to non-face-to-face education.

For indoor sports facilities, measures such as checking compliance with social distancing at least once a week are being considered.

The quarantine authorities also plan to prepare measures to prevent face-to-face meetings.

For nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, mass testing will be conducted at least once every two weeks for facility users and workers.

Funeral halls will limit visitors to fewer than 100 people, and relatives and acquaintances from the mainland are advised to refrain from attending.

To minimize contact between people, industries where physical contact is unavoidable, such as skin care salons and massage shops, will be limited to one person per 8㎡ of facility area.

The quarantine authorities are considering introducing a one-strike-out system if these rules are not followed.

Jeju Infectious Disease Control Support Team Leader Bae Jong-myeon said, “We will deploy a large number of personnel to conduct epidemiological investigations and do our best to ensure that quarantine investigations proceed faster than the transmission speed.”

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