Daejeon City Conducts Overnight Inspections of Entertainment Venues Including 'Gamseong Jujeom'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City has issued orders to comply with social distancing business rules targeting entertainment facilities such as emotional pubs in the area, while conducting intensive inspections on compliance.

The city announced on the 10th that it will inspect the implementation of social distancing at 15 entertainment facilities, including emotional pubs located in Dunsan-dong, Seo-gu, until the 19th, in line with the government's second social distancing enforcement period.

The intensive inspection of entertainment facilities centered on emotional pubs is being conducted in response to the recent occurrence of confirmed COVID-19 cases at a large entertainment pub in Gangnam, Seoul, raising concerns about cluster infections within entertainment facilities, and the fact that emotional pubs have been a blind spot in social distancing enforcement.

Until now, emotional pubs have been classified as general restaurants and thus excluded from recommended business restrictions due to the spread of COVID-19. However, recently, the atmosphere has intensified with an increasing number of young visitors to these establishments, raising the risk of cluster infections.

Accordingly, the city plans to first recommend the suspension of operations for emotional pubs and other entertainment facilities, while requiring businesses that continue to operate to strictly comply with the eight major infection prevention operating rules.

Furthermore, for businesses violating these rules, the city plans to issue administrative orders prohibiting gatherings and assemblies under the “Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act,” and impose fines and claim damages for confirmed cases resulting from violations of the administrative orders.

In particular, during the inspection and enforcement period, the city will deploy five teams (a total of about 20 people) jointly with Seo-gu Office and Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency to the field, ensuring that each team conducts continuous enforcement until 3 a.m. daily.

Additionally, the city will check compliance with operating rules daily at 290 entertainment pubs and 315 karaoke pubs in the area, and will respond strongly to any violations.

The eight major infection prevention operating rules are: ▲ symptomatic workers must leave immediately ▲ maintain at least 1 meter distance when lining up outside the facility ▲ conduct temperature checks at the entrance and prohibit entry of symptomatic persons ▲ all workers and users must wear masks ▲ provide hand sanitizers at entrances and inside the facility ▲ maintain at least 1 to 2 meters distance between users inside the facility ▲ disinfect and ventilate the facility at least twice a day ▲ prepare and manage a list of visitors.

Lee Kang-hyeok, Director of the Health and Welfare Bureau of the city, said, “As concerns and the sense of crisis over cluster infections of COVID-19 escalate, strong measures targeting entertainment facilities have become an inevitable means,” and added, “Since these measures are for everyone’s safety, we ask for the cooperation and understanding of industry stakeholders and citizens.”