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Commuters in Seoul’s Sindorim Station on May 13. (Kim Hye-yun, staff photographer)

People who are not wearing face masks will be unable to ride buses, subways, or taxis as of May 26. Masks will also be required for both domestic and international flights as of May 27.

Meanwhile, another kindergarten student in Seoul’s Gangseo District tested positive for COVID-19. The student attended a class taught by an art academy teacher who also tested positive, prompting a suspension of emergency daycare service provided by five elementary schools and 10 kindergartens in the vicinity just days before classes were set to start.

In a regular briefing on the morning of May 25, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCHQ) included the measures as part of its announced plans for “intensified disease control for transportation.” As of May 26, all drivers of buses and taxis (transportation staff) must wear a face mask when transporting passengers, and will be allowed to refuse boarding to passengers who are not wearing a mask. Violations will be exempt from suspensions and penalties for a limited period. Currently, cities such as Seoul, Incheon, and Daegu have issued administrative orders requiring the use of masks on public transportation; the latest measure expands that system nationwide through administrative instructions by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT).

“As the weather has become hotter recently, we’ve seen cases of passengers and drivers on buses and taxis becoming lax about wearing masks, but it has been difficult to enforce [the wearing of masks] according to the current law,” explained Yoon Tae-ho, head of the infectious disease control team of the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.

Passengers who are not wearing masks will also be restricted from riding trains and subways as of May 26. As of May 27, masks will be required on both international and domestic flights for all airlines.

“Improvement orders are to be issued to transportation providers to require the use of masks, and penalties may be imposed for non-compliance, depending on the local situation,” a MOLIT official said.

“Since there are no regulations for directly punishing passengers, we’re aiming to resolve the issue by having the transportation staff refuse boarding,” the official explained.

In Seoul’s Gangseo District, an additional kindergarten student tested positive for COVID-19 that day after attending a class with an art academy instructor who had been diagnosed the day before. In response, emergency daycare services were suspended at nearby elementary schools and kindergartens. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) explained on May 25 that a six-year-old male kindergarten student had been newly diagnosed with the virus in connection with a 29-year-old instructor at the Young Rembrandt art academy in Gangseo District who had also tested positive.

“Eighty of the 113 individuals associated with the academy were tested, including both students and instructors, and the remaining 79 besides [the one who was diagnosed] tested negative,” a disease control official explained.

Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SOME) and public health authorities classified a total of 38 people as having been in “close contact” with the instructor who tested positive, including 35 students and three other instructors, and suspended all attendance -- including emergency daycare services -- at five elementary schools and 10 kindergartens in question from May 25 to 26. Five after-school academies and eight learning centers in the same building as the art academy are also to be suspended and sterilized.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced that the 237 patients diagnosed in connection with an infection cluster associated with clubs in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood as of noon that day included seven cases of fifth-degree transmission and one of sixth-degree transmission. The new diagnoses that day included one case associated with Jusarang Church in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, in connection with an English-language Bible study group originating at Grace Methodist Church in Seoul’s Yangcheon District, as well as another case in connection with Elim Church in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, involving a merchant in the Saemaeul Jungang Market area where the church is located.

Meanwhile, disease control authorities announced plans to implement a monitoring and investigation system that day in connection with rare inflammatory reactions observed in multiple organs among pediatric patients, which have been found chiefly in the US and Europe.

By Kwon Ji-dam and Lee Yu-jin, staff reporters

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