“Gwangju COVID-19 Status Update Slow” Citizens' Anxiety Rises

Citizens: "Unprecedented Concern, Confirmed Case Movement Disclosure Should Be Faster"

Gwangju City: "We Will Explore Various Measures to Provide Prompt and Accurate Information"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] As the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the Gwangju area is rapidly increasing, there are growing calls for faster disclosure and real-time information provision regarding the movement paths of confirmed cases managed by Gwangju City, as the current information provision is somewhat slow.

According to Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 2nd, since the 34th confirmed case in Gwangju was reported on the 27th of last month, a total of 45 people have been confirmed positive as of today (12 PM). This averages to about 7 cases per day.

Since the first confirmed case in Gwangju on February 3rd until the 33rd case on the 20th of last month, the number of cases over approximately five months was fewer than the number reported in the recent six days, heightening citizens' anxiety.

Gwangju City currently operates a "COVID-19 Gwangju Metropolitan City Status" page on its website for prompt and transparent disclosure of confirmed case occurrences and sends "Safety Alert Texts" via mobile phone messaging services.

However, citizens complain that the updates on the COVID-19 status on the website and the text alert service are too slow.

In particular, despite a confirmed case visiting a wedding hall last weekend, the movement path was only disclosed several days later, intensifying public dissatisfaction.

Mr. Jung (44) said, "Suddenly, Gwangju is in a COVID emergency, so the movement paths of confirmed cases have become a matter of utmost interest to citizens, but the status updates are too slow," and added, "More safety alert texts have been reported about confirmed cases visiting wedding halls, but I only received texts from four wedding halls."

He continued, "There needs to be a method to update movement paths frequently as they are confirmed and send text alerts so that citizens can receive information promptly."

In response, a Gwangju City official stated, "Since the related departments collect data and then pass it to the online team for website status updates, the process can be somewhat slow, but this is a measure to provide accurate information," and added, "We are exploring various ways to provide faster and more accurate information."