Gwangju City Operates Comprehensive Situation Room to Resolve Citizen Inconveniences During Lunar New Year Holiday

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 9th that it will operate a comprehensive situation room during the Lunar New Year holiday period to manage COVID-19 response, emergency situations, and to alleviate citizen inconveniences.

The comprehensive situation room, operating from the 11th to the 14th, will be composed of seven teams: the general situation team, medical team, transportation team, environment and cleaning team, citizen safety team, fire department team, and water supply team.

First, to respond to the spread of COVID-19, an emergency quarantine system including epidemiological investigations will be activated, and the temporary screening clinic at City Hall, five district office screening clinics, and the COVID-19 call center will operate normally to provide consultation and diagnostic testing services during the holiday period.

Additionally, as confirmed cases have recently occurred mainly among those tested before release from self-quarantine, special management measures for self-quarantined individuals will be implemented to prepare for a leak-free quarantine during the Lunar New Year holiday.

A monitoring system checking self-quarantined individuals four times a day will be maintained, and an emergency response team of 126 people across six teams will be formed to respond to emergencies during the holiday. Joint surprise inspections with related agencies will also be conducted to prevent unauthorized departures during the holiday period.

Furthermore, to preemptively block the possibility of unauthorized departures, thorough education will be conducted by distributing instructional videos on living guidelines to self-quarantined individuals and their families. In addition, a real-time emergency contact network at health centers will be maintained at all times to prepare for emergencies that may occur during self-quarantine.

To minimize medical service gaps caused by clinic closures, 20 emergency medical institutions and 5 emergency medical facilities will maintain a 24-hour medical service system as usual. Thirteen COVID-19 screening clinics (replacing health center clinics), eight health clinics, 142 open medical institutions, and 203 pharmacies will be designated to ensure access to medical care and medication purchases without inconvenience.

Information can be obtained by phone through the 120 Call Center, 119 Emergency Situation Management Center, and 129 Health and Welfare Call Center, and can also be checked on the city and district websites as well as the emergency medical portal ‘E-gen’.

Additionally, by using the smartphone application ‘Emergency Medical Information Service,’ users can identify their location and check nearby open medical institutions or pharmacies on a map.

To ensure no gaps in quarantine response during the Lunar New Year holiday, a special quarantine posture will be established, including quarantine inspections of key management facilities. Thirty-two inspection teams will focus on checking compliance with quarantine rules at high-risk locations such as ▲religious facilities ▲cultural facilities ▲sports facilities ▲entertainment bars ▲restaurants and cafes.

Strengthened quarantine measures will be implemented in foreigner-dense areas such as Wolgok-dong in Gwangsan-gu, and proactive COVID-19 testing will be conducted for homeless people on the streets to thoroughly manage vulnerable groups. Thorough quarantine management systems will also be maintained during the holiday at multi-use transportation facilities, public transportation, large marts, and traditional markets, where crowds are expected.

On the 10th, a large-scale citywide campaign involving the city, districts, civic groups, and volunteers will be conducted across Gwangju to promote the practice of daily quarantine measures.

During the holiday, Mangwol Cemetery Park and Yeongnak Park will be fully closed to prevent crowding, and online memorial services at Yeongnak Park and e-Haneul online memorial and grave visiting services will be provided to allow citizens to pay respects remotely.

Due to the closure of municipal cemeteries, the additional city bus services usually operated during holidays will not be provided, and late-night subway operations before the holiday will also not be extended in accordance with distancing guidelines recommending reduced travel during the holiday.

Instead, a transportation countermeasure situation room will be operated to facilitate transportation for returning visitors, providing real-time traffic information to maintain smooth traffic flow.

To prevent disasters and safety accidents such as cold waves and heavy snow, a 24-hour disaster situation management system will be maintained, and ambulances will be pre-positioned in densely populated areas such as those with returning visitors to prepare for emergencies.

To ensure stable waste disposal, normal collection of household and food waste will be conducted throughout the holiday period except on the holiday itself, enabling citizens to spend the holiday in a clean environment.

Operations of the wildfire prevention situation room, fuel supply situation room, and rapid response team for water supply complaints will also be maintained to thoroughly resolve citizen inconveniences.

Kim Il-yong, Director of the City’s Autonomous Administration Bureau, said, “To safely get through the last winter without vaccines, we ask for active participation in the campaign to stay home during the Lunar New Year and comply with quarantine rules,” and added, “Gwangju City will do its best to protect the safety of the Gwangju community by maintaining the comprehensive situation room management system without any gaps in quarantine response during the holiday.”

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