Jeju Island Extends Social Distancing Level 1.5 for 3 Weeks... Until the 2nd of Next Month

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province announced on the 9th that it will extend the current Level 1.5 social distancing for three more weeks until midnight on the 2nd of next month, in accordance with the government's social distancing policy.

Considering the government's policy and the difficulty of improving the situation in a short period, Jeju set the application period to three weeks, but plans to promptly review raising the level if confirmed cases increase.

The recent daily average number of confirmed cases in Jeju over the past week was 2.14 (April 2?8, 15 cases), which is below the current Level 2 threshold, but nearly doubled compared to 1.57 cases the previous week.

The number of tourists in Jeju this month was tentatively counted at 884,000, an 83% increase compared to last year, corresponding to 76% of the pre-COVID-19 level.

Additionally, among the 19 new confirmed cases in Jeju this month, 15 were confirmed due to contact with confirmed cases from other regions including the metropolitan area or due to inflow.

With the maintenance of social distancing at Level 1.5, the ban on private gatherings of five or more people and measures for multi-use facilities remain unchanged.

When using multi-use facilities such as restaurants, cafes, and PC rooms, groups of five or more people are not allowed to enter together.

Private gatherings and events aimed at socializing, such as various clubs (alumni associations), reunions, workplace dinners, and friend meetings, are prohibited.

In particular, as the prolonged social distancing has led to a relaxation of vigilance regarding quarantine rules within the local community, increasing the uncertainty of infection spread more than ever, Jeju has designated April 12?18 as a ‘Special Intensive Quarantine Management Period’ to respond to the fourth wave crisis and raise residents' awareness, conducting extensive inspections of quarantine rules.

Inspections will focus on 34 key, general, and other management facilities where quarantine rules are mandatory, and any violations will be met with fines without exception, applying a zero-tolerance policy.

Due to numerous recent cases where businesses failed to guide or tacitly allowed the non-creation of entry logs, focused crackdowns on visitor management will also be conducted.

Accordingly, businesses must verify that users authenticate using electronic entry logs such as the Jeju Safety Code (or handwritten logs if unavoidable), and when using handwritten logs, methods like ‘number of people other than the representative’ are prohibited; all visitors must fill out the log.

Businesses violating quarantine rules will be fined up to 3 million KRW, and users up to 100,000 KRW; if there is a high risk of infection, active closure orders will be issued to individual businesses.

Those violating quarantine rules, including business operators, will be excluded from all economic support programs such as living support funds, the government's fourth disaster relief funds, and compensation for losses.

Furthermore, if the violation is serious and causes a cluster infection, Jeju plans to actively exercise its right to claim damages (compensation claims) for quarantine costs and confirmed patients' treatment expenses.

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