‘Private gatherings limited to 4 people’ Daejeon strengthens social distancing measures

Provided by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City will apply and enforce strengthened social distancing Level 2 for one week starting from the 14th.

On the 13th, the city explained that due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases caused by the influx of the Delta variant virus, it was judged necessary to take special measures to prevent the spread of the infectious disease, thus strengthening social distancing.

The strengthened distancing primarily limits private gatherings to up to 4 people and suspends all vaccine incentives.

Not only gatherings in multi-use facilities but also various events and religious facilities will now include vaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals in the headcount, who were previously excluded when calculating the number of attendees.

In particular, choir, praise teams, and small group activities that were allowed only when composed entirely of fully vaccinated members at religious facilities will be completely banned.

Additionally, the city explained that the number of participants in events and gatherings such as briefings, public hearings, academic conferences, training sessions, and competitions held nationwide will be limited to 49 people.

The application period is until the 21st, with the possibility of further extension depending on the situation.

Previously, Daejeon raised the social distancing level from 1 to 2 at midnight on the 8th. However, since then, there have been a total of 165 new confirmed cases in the region, averaging 33 cases per day.

This is a larger scale than the 119 new confirmed cases (an average of 23.8 per day) that occurred in the five days (3rd to 7th) just before the distancing was raised, and on the 13th, 31 new confirmed cases were reported in a single day.

Mayor Heo Tae-jeong of Daejeon said, “If we do not curb the spread of COVID-19 now, the long battle with COVID-19 will continue,” and added, “The city asks citizens to actively participate in wearing masks indoors and outdoors, refraining from private gatherings, and proactively getting tested for COVID-19 when symptoms appear to prevent the spread early.”

Meanwhile, the city is concerned about situations where many people gather in the region due to meetings and events from the Seoul metropolitan area. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, currently, one out of three confirmed cases in the metropolitan area is infected with the Delta variant virus, which spreads 2.5 times faster than the general COVID-19 virus.

Accordingly, the metropolitan area has raised social distancing to Level 4 since the 12th. Therefore, the city is cautious about gatherings moving from the metropolitan area to the region.

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