Gwangju City Extends Social Distancing Level 2 Until February 14

Review of Level 2.5 if Confirmed Cases Do Not Decrease

Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, is giving a briefing on social distancing quarantine measures at the city hall briefing room on the afternoon of the 31st. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City will extend the 'Social Distancing' Level 2 for two more weeks until February 14, in accordance with the government's policy.

On the 31st at 5 p.m., Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop held a briefing on the 'Social Distancing' quarantine measures, stating, "Gwangju is still facing the greatest COVID-19 crisis," and announced, "Gwangju will extend Social Distancing Level 2 for two weeks from February 1 to February 14. However, an administrative order to 'ban gatherings' will be issued for adult arcades in the area, where confirmed cases have recently surged."

Accordingly, in the Gwangju area, ▲private gatherings of five or more people remain prohibited as before.

Especially, including the Lunar New Year holiday period, gatherings of five or more among immediate family members are prohibited, with exceptions only for families living together.

Reservations and accompanied entries of five or more people at restaurants and other multi-use facilities are also prohibited as currently enforced.

▲A 'ban on gatherings' order has been issued for 156 adult arcades in the area.

The city also issued an administrative order for mandatory COVID-19 testing for visitors, owners, and workers of adult arcades between the 1st and 31st of this month.

▲With nationwide mandatory PCR preemptive testing for workers and caregivers in nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, Gwangju will continue to mandate twice-weekly testing for nursing hospital staff and once-weekly testing for nursing facility staff (patients and residents tested once a month) as currently practiced.

Other quarantine measures such as visitation bans, control of external visitors, and prohibitions on staff visiting other facilities or private gatherings remain unchanged.

▲The ban on gatherings for six types of entertainment facilities (nightclubs, colatecs, karaoke bars, emotional pubs, hunting pubs, and holdem pubs), activities of recreational sports clubs, and group sports activities will be extended for two weeks.

Quarantine measures for door-to-door sales and direct sales promotion centers, restaurants and cafes, academies (including tutoring centers), vocational training institutions, wedding halls and funeral homes, singing practice rooms, indoor standing concert halls, indoor sports facilities, bathhouses, cinemas and performance halls, PC rooms, arcades (excluding adult arcades) and multi-rooms, reading rooms and study cafes, amusement parks, hair and beauty salons, department stores and large marts, shops and small to medium-sized marts, lodging facilities, public facilities, social welfare facilities (daycare centers), sports events, and call centers will also be maintained as is for two weeks.

▲For churches, in-person worship services have been banned from the 30th of last month until the 10th of next month, with only non-face-to-face online services permitted.

Other religious activities such as Mass, Buddhist ceremonies, and memorial services remain allowed at up to 20% seating capacity as currently enforced.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, "Although confirmed cases have decreased over the past three days from 54 to 33 to 17, adult arcades (4 locations, 34 related confirmed cases) have emerged as a new infection cluster, creating an emergency situation where no city can afford to lower its guard," and emphasized, "If confirmed cases do not steadily decrease despite strengthened quarantine measures, we cannot rule out considering raising social distancing to Level 2.5."

He continued, "If raised to Level 2.5, the damage to the local economy would be very significant. I ask each citizen to actively comply with quarantine rules to prevent such a situation," and added, "Conversely, if confirmed cases significantly decrease to single digits, we will review easing quarantine rules after one week."

He also stated, "At this point, stabilizing the COVID-19 situation as soon as possible is the only way to minimize the pain of people's livelihoods and revive the local economy. Although it is difficult and inconvenient, I ask for active cooperation in quarantine for the safety of the Gwangju community," and said, "We will promptly prepare and announce the 12th Livelihood Stabilization Measures to support citizens."

Meanwhile, in the Gwangju area, large-scale cluster infections occurred in nursing hospitals and churches since the beginning of the new year, resulting in 700 confirmed cases (38.9% of the cumulative 1,798 confirmed cases) in January alone. While the daily average number of confirmed cases was 3.2 from the first confirmed case on February 3 last year until the end of December, the daily average rose to 22.5 in January.

In particular, cluster infections occurred in densely populated and enclosed spaces such as nursing hospitals, unauthorized boarding education facilities, and churches, where many people had close contact. In churches, various occupational groups meet and interact, spreading infections throughout the local community.

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