Seoul Mapo and Gangdong 'Indoor Golf and Fitness Centers' Allowed to Operate Until Midnight for One Month Starting from the 12th

Seoul City Launches 'Seoul-style Coexistence Quarantine' Pilot Project
Enhanced 4 Major Quarantine Rules Including Mask Wearing, Preemptive Testing, Usage Limits After 10 PM, and Ventilation
Decided in Consultation with Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters... Participating Facilities Selected by Autonomous Districts Through Business Applications

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is giving a greeting at the 'Seoul Small Business 4-No Worry Financial Support Agreement Ceremony' held on the 8th at the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to support overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Amid the stagnation of the 'Seoul-style Coexistence Quarantine' policy, which Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been promoting since his inauguration but has encountered challenges due to the rising trend of COVID-19 cases and quarantine realities, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to launch a pilot project allowing fitness centers and indoor golf practice ranges in Mapo-gu and Gangdong-gu to operate until midnight.

On the 10th, Seoul City announced that after submitting the 'Seoul-style Coexistence Quarantine' plan, which was developed through consultations with various industry associations and experts on April 22, to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and undergoing further discussions, this decision was made.

Seoul plans to conduct the pilot project for one month starting from the 12th, targeting fitness centers and indoor golf practice ranges among private sports facilities in Mapo-gu and Gangdong-gu. Park Yu-mi, the Quarantine Controller of Seoul's Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated, "Based on strict compliance with enhanced quarantine rules, we plan to implement a project from the 12th for one month that minimizes quarantine risks while tentatively easing business restrictions."

During the next month, the operating hours for fitness centers and indoor golf practice ranges in these areas will be extended from 10 p.m. to midnight. Park explained, "We will allow operations until midnight on the condition that the facilities comply with four strengthened quarantine rules: mask-wearing, proactive testing, limiting the number of users after 10 p.m., and ventilation. The reason for selecting fitness centers and indoor golf practice ranges as target facilities is that they operate on a membership basis, making user management easier, and due to the nature of the industry, they tend to operate late into the night."

Since his inauguration in April, Mayor Oh has been promoting the 'Seoul-style Coexistence Quarantine,' which primarily involves easing operating hours by industry, including entertainment establishments. However, as quarantine violations continued mainly in entertainment venues and new confirmed cases emerged, the policy lost momentum. Accordingly, Seoul City repeatedly revised the plan with the central government to ease restrictions on multi-use facilities based on the introduction of rapid test kits.

Meanwhile, the pilot districts were selected by Seoul City considering the distance between autonomous districts and targeting those with excellent quarantine records. Participating facilities will be selected through applications from business operators in each district. Park said, "Seoul plans to expand the distancing manual according to the characteristics of each industry by reflecting the results of this coexistence quarantine pilot project."

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