[Asia Economy (Seongnam) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province will implement a comprehensive plan for the Lunar New Year holiday focusing on COVID-19 response.
On the 25th, Seongnam City announced that it will organize and operate 27 task forces covering COVID-19 situation, health care, transportation, disaster and accident response, and more during the five-day holiday from the 29th of this month to the 2nd of next month.
During this period, the city will deploy 629 public officials, accounting for 20% of all civil servants, to emergency duty to prevent administrative gaps in various fields.
Additionally, the COVID-19 situation task force will focus on preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Dedicated officials will be assigned on a one-to-one basis to individuals in self-quarantine and overseas entrants to check the self-diagnosis app input three times a day and monitor their health status through daily phone calls.
Officials in charge of managing home treatment isolation will also be designated to guide patients on lifestyle rules and the use of health monitoring apps.
The city will also conduct intensive disinfection at multi-use facilities such as Yatap-dong Seongnam General Bus Terminal. Education on disinfection rules and hygiene inspections will be carried out for bus and taxi drivers.
The health care task force will operate eight COVID-19 (temporary) screening clinics and testing sites from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the holiday period.
The screening clinics are located at Sujeong, Jungwon, and Bundang Public Health Centers, while the temporary screening testing sites are at Sujeong-gu Public Health Center Plaza, Seongnam Sports Complex (2 locations), Tancheon Sports Complex, and Yatap Station Plaza, totaling five locations.
The city will continue COVID-19 vaccinations during the holiday. Residents can make advance reservations through the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s vaccination pre-booking system. They can also check medical institutions with remaining vaccines via Naver or Kakao apps for same-day reservation and vaccination.
Seongnam City has designated seven emergency medical institutions including Seongnam Medical Center and about 700 local hospitals and clinics (41% of a total of 1,700) to provide emergency medical services during the Lunar New Year holiday.
About 400 pharmacies (80% of a total of 496) will operate as 'Holiday Keeper Pharmacies.'
The city has formed a transportation task force and will lift taxi restrictions for three days from the 31st of this month to the 2nd of next month to accommodate visitors to ancestral graves and returning residents. Additionally, 159 school and public on-street and off-street parking lots (12,581 spaces) will be opened free of charge.
Unlike previous years, there will be no concentrated bus dispatch during peak travel times for grave visitors and returning residents. This is to discourage movement in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Furthermore, the disaster and accident task force will maintain a 24-hour disaster situation management system throughout the holiday period to prepare for any incidents or accidents.
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