February 1-14 Lunar New Year Special Quarantine Period... Review of Toll Charges on Highways (Update)

Only Window Seats Sold for Train Tickets... No Indoor Dining at Rest Areas

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government has designated the period from February 1 to February 14, including the Lunar New Year holiday, as a special quarantine period for Seol and is considering implementing toll fees on expressways to reduce travel.

At a regular briefing on the 16th, Kwon Deok-cheol, the first head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, said, "Considering the nationwide movement and family gatherings expected during the Lunar New Year holiday in February, we plan to designate and manage the two weeks from February 1 to 14 as a special quarantine period for Seol."

Chief Kwon urged, "We ask all citizens to refrain from visiting their hometowns, relatives, and traveling during this Seol," expressing concern that "the possibility of a significant decrease in the third wave of infections by the Lunar New Year holiday is low, and if things go wrong, parents, family members, relatives, and our neighbors could be at risk."

Accordingly, the government will strengthen quarantine measures for transportation means and facilities during the Seol holiday.

Train tickets will be sold only for window seats, and while considering the implementation of toll fees on expressways, the number of passengers on coastal ferries will be managed at about 50% of capacity to reduce overall travel volume.

Expressway rest areas will operate congestion guidance systems and prohibit indoor dining (only take-out sales allowed) to prevent crowding among users of transportation facilities.

Safe memorial services such as online memorial and ancestral rites services will also be prepared. Starting from the 18th, online ancestral rites and memorial services will be implemented, and columbarium facilities will operate a time-slot based advance reservation system for five weeks before and after the holiday (from the 4th week of January to the 4th week of February), with food consumption prohibited indoors.

National and public cultural and artistic facilities will operate an advance reservation system.

Palaces, museums, and other national and public cultural and artistic facilities will manage appropriate user numbers through advance reservations (within 30% of capacity or seating with two seats apart), and some paid facilities will apply the usual fee standards.

Nursing hospitals and care facilities will prepare safe visitation measures.

For nursing hospitals and facilities with a high risk of group infections, visitation bans will be implemented according to social distancing levels, and video calls for visits will be actively recommended to support the emotional stability of the elderly.

Chief Kwon said, "Just as we spent the last Chuseok holiday without the spread of COVID-19 through special quarantine measures, we ask everyone to unite so that this Seol holiday can be a time of heartfelt connection rather than physical meetings."

He added, "If we maintain our current efforts until mid-February when the special quarantine measures end, we can surely overcome the third wave and enter a stable response phase. We ask everyone to continue to put in effort until then."

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