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A high school in Seoul’s Gangdong District is closed from May 28 to 29 after one of its students was diagnosed with COVID-19. (Yonhap News)

As the coronavirus continues to spread in the capital region, the South Korean government is moving to tighten disease control measures by shutting down public facilities and other facilities frequented by large numbers of people in the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) for the next two weeks. While the government says it will maintain what it calls an “everyday” system of more relaxed disease prevention measures, which will include allowing students to return to school as planned, the government is essentially tightening those measures to a degree similar to the government’s previous “social distancing” approach. Officials reported on Thursday that the previous day’s tally of new COVID-19 cases amounted to 79, much higher than the 50 cases the government had cited as its criterion for relaxing disease control measures.

On Thursday, the government convened an emergency meeting of relevant ministers about the infection cluster in the SCA, with South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun presiding. The decision reached during this meeting was to strengthen disease control rules on residents and facilities in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province.

“There are concerns that the [COVID-19 outbreak at] the logistics center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, may lead to a chain of infections in the SCA. Given the incubation period of the virus, the next two weeks represent a critical window for preventing the disease from spreading in the SCA. We have decided to tighten all aspects of disease control management in the SCA during the 17 days from 6 pm, May 29, until midnight on June 14,” said Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, who is also the first vice director of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH).

In line with these moves, the government has urged nightlife establishments, karaoke rooms, cram schools, and LAN gaming centers in the SCA to exercise restraint in their operations and is planning to carry out regular inspections of their premises. Businesses that are open for business but not abiding by disease control regulations will face as much as 3 million won (US$2,428) in fines.

“Since various local governments have already taken administrative action against karaoke rooms, it’s safe to assume that we’ll be more strictly monitoring rule compliance by cram schools and LAN gaming centers [which are generally frequented by school-age children and teenagers],” a disease control representative explained.

Museums and other public facilities visited by large numbers of the public will also be closed, regardless of whether they are indoors and outdoors. SCA residents have been asked to refrain from leaving their home or attending gatherings or events unless strictly necessary.

The government’s decisions are based on the disturbing spread of the coronavirus in the SCA, where 80% of new cases have recently been reported. The number of new cases reported on Thursday was over 50 for the first time in 31 days, since Apr. 8. The percentage of cases with an uncertain route of transmission has also risen over the past two weeks from 2.7% on May 13 to 7.6% on Thursday.

Thus far, the government has alternated between three approaches to disease prevention measures, which are called everyday distancing, social distancing, and intense social distancing. When the government switched to everyday distancing on May 6, it said this more relaxed approach would only be manageable as long as daily cases remained below 50 and the percentage of untraceable cases remained below 5%.

“We’re basically on the boundary between everyday quarantine and social distancing. If the daily caseload remains above 50 for a week, that would be a direct indicator for switching back to social distancing. The reason we’re taking preemptive measures is to allow students to keep attending classes,” said Park, the health minister, on Thursday. Reversion to social distancing could mean yet another suspension of on-campus classes and stricter rules for a larger segment of public facilities, including churches.

“There are concerns that the COVID-19 outbreak in the SCA could get even bigger than expected. Considering that citizens’ actual participation rate in distancing campaigns may not be as high as before, the government needs to announce stronger distancing measures,” said Eom Joong-sik, a professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, when asked about the stricter disease control measures in the SCA that the government announced on Thursday.

“We need to keep a close watch on the recent spread of the disease because this could become a second wave in the SCA. Rather than strengthening disease control at public facilities such as museums where disease control measures have been relatively effective, we need to identify hidden high-risk facilities such as call centers and logistics centers and tighten our disease control measures there,” said Kim Woo-ju, a professor of infectious disease at Korea University Guro Hospital.

By Choi Ha-yan, staff reporter

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