Jinju City to Implement Customized Special Quarantine for Foreign Workers

Measures to Prevent COVID-19 Spread Among Registered and Unregistered Foreigners

Total of 16 Cumulative Cases Linked to Foreigners' Social Gatherings

Mayor Jo Gyu-il Special Quarantine Briefing Tailored for Foreign Workers
[Image Source=Jinju City]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province announced on the 1st that it will implement customized quarantine measures targeting foreign workers to prevent the spread of infection related to gatherings of foreign acquaintances.

The foreign acquaintance gatherings began with 3 confirmed cases on August 28, followed by 8 additional confirmed cases on the 29th, and as of the 1st, a total of 16 confirmed cases have been reported.

Accordingly, the city has quickly identified 240 contacts and exposure cases, sending notification messages and encouraging testing through visits.

There are approximately 4,500 registered foreigners residing in the city, and an estimated 2,000 unregistered foreigners. As of August 30, about 1,200 unregistered foreigners had made vaccination appointments.

The city stated that unregistered foreigners face difficulties in epidemiological investigations due to language and interpretation issues and avoidance of statements when confirmed with COVID-19. It is also known that many are uncooperative with epidemiological investigations due to concerns about disadvantages not only to themselves but also to their colleagues.

As a result, identification of contacts and exposure cases is delayed when confirmed cases occur, leading to late diagnostic testing and untimely classification of self-quarantine, making it difficult to block the spread of infection.

Therefore, the city is vigorously implementing a customized special quarantine measure to encourage voluntary participation in quarantine by emphasizing that personal information will not be reported to immigration authorities and that there will be no disadvantages such as deportation even if unregistered foreigners undergo diagnostic testing and vaccination.

The city is preparing and promoting special quarantine measures tailored to on-site conditions, focusing on facilities and places where many foreigners gather or have frequent contact, such as restaurants used by foreigners, group residences, factories, religious facilities, rural greenhouse farms, employment agencies, and construction sites.

First, the city distributed testing and vaccination guidance documents in six languages to 1,400 foreigners in the group residence area where confirmed cases occurred and sent multiple text messages.

In addition, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, agricultural and construction sites will only employ new workers who have tested negative for COVID-19 for the time being. Site managers are actively encouraged to inform foreign workers of this and to strictly enforce it.

In particular, the city is actively encouraging COVID-19 testing by setting up a temporary screening clinic at the Sangdae-dong sports facility on the 2nd and 3rd for two days.

The temporary screening clinic will operate from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., during after-work hours, to support the convenience of foreigners undergoing diagnostic testing. Free preemptive testing is available not only to foreigners but also to nearby residents.

The city is also conducting promotional activities for testing and vaccination of foreigners through related organizations and volunteer groups in neighborhoods with a high foreign population to enable many foreigners and citizens to get tested.

Mayor Cho Gyu-il said, “To stabilize the local community and to block the spread of COVID-19 early, I repeatedly urge everyone to actively participate in diagnostic testing and vaccination regardless of foreign registration status or nationality.”

Meanwhile, the city discussed mutual cooperation and quarantine cooperation plans for the university area through the Win-Win Development Council with Gyeongsang National University.

On the morning of the 1st, the city held the first meeting of the Win-Win Development Council at the Gyeongsang National University Chilam Campus headquarters to discuss mutual cooperation and support measures and share the COVID-19 quarantine situation.

Both organizations agreed to discuss quarantine cooperation measures in response to the recent occurrence of many confirmed cases in multi-use facilities around the university area and the expected increase in student contact and movement during the start of the semester. They also agreed to jointly promote compliance with quarantine rules and vaccination promotion activities with the city, university, students, and local volunteer groups to improve vaccination rates among students and faculty and staff, as well as to inspect and manage multi-use facilities in the university area.

The city is calling for voluntary participation from all sectors of the local community, including educational institutions, in efforts to overcome COVID-19 early.

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