Suwon City Imposes 1.5 Million KRW Fine on 'Social Welfare Center' Violating Quarantine Guidelines

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Suwon City in Gyeonggi Province imposed a fine on A Social Welfare Center in Yeongtong-gu for neglecting to comply with quarantine guidelines, such as having conversations without wearing masks inside the office.

On the 5th, Suwon City announced that it had issued a prior notice of a fine of 1.5 million KRW to A Social Welfare Center for violating the "Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act."

After the initial confirmation of infection among social service agents on the 23rd of last month, more than 20% of the total 70 employees at A Social Welfare Center, or 15 people, tested positive for COVID-19 by the 5th of this month.

In particular, among the 19 social service agents, 9 were infected, and additionally, 13 family members and acquaintances of the employees were confirmed positive, resulting in a cluster infection involving a total of 28 people.

According to the epidemiological investigation by Yeongtong-gu Public Health Center, it was confirmed that some employees at A Social Welfare Center were not wearing masks in the office during working hours. Scenes of conversations and movements without masks were clearly captured on CCTV.

Furthermore, although 19 social service agents shared one waiting room with a high density, mask-wearing was poor, and periodic ventilation and checklist completion were not conducted, revealing negligence in quarantine management.

Upon confirming this, Suwon City issued a warning and a fine of 1.5 million KRW to A Social Welfare Center for failing to comply with quarantine guidelines such as mask-wearing.

The Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act stipulates that administrators and operators who fail to comply with quarantine measures such as maintaining visitor logs and wearing masks shall be fined up to 3 million KRW.

Previously, Suwon City has strongly emphasized strict administrative measures against high-risk facilities violating quarantine guidelines to prevent cluster infections and has taken firm actions such as filing complaints against facility representatives where cluster infections occurred.

Yeom Tae-young, Mayor of Suwon City, emphasized, "We will respond strongly with a zero-tolerance policy toward any violations of quarantine to ensure that the sacrifices and efforts of citizens actively participating in daily quarantine are not in vain."

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