[Weekly File] Gwangju and Jeonnam During Lunar New Year Holiday... Thorough Management of Transportation, Medical Care, and Welfare

City and Province Establish Comprehensive Measures for the Holiday Season
Additional City Buses and KTX Trains on Honam and Jeolla Lines
Guidance on Open Hospitals, Pharmacies, and Pediatric Clinics
Blocking the Spread of Livestock Infectious Diseases... Intensive Disinfection in Progress

On the morning of the 24th, one day before the major national holiday Seollal, travelers are moving to board trains heading to their hometowns at Seoul Station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

Gwangju City and South Jeolla Province have established comprehensive measures in various fields such as transportation, healthcare, and welfare ahead of Seollal, the largest traditional holiday in Korea.

With crowds expected to visit their hometowns, additional transportation will be provided for those visiting ancestral graves, while emergency rooms, children's hospitals, and pharmacies will remain open. Local governments will operate emergency medical situation rooms to respond quickly to emergencies.

◇ Additional City Buses and Trains During Seollal Holiday

During the Seollal holiday, Gwangju will increase city bus operations and ease parking enforcement around traditional markets. Bus services between national/public cemeteries and Gwangju Comprehensive Bus Terminal will be expanded.

On Seollal day, bus number 518, which runs between Sangmu District, the bus terminal, and Yeongnak Park, will add 30 more trips. Bus number Jiwon 15, running from Wolnam-dong to Taeryeong, will operate via Yeongnak Park. Bus number Yongjeon 86, which usually terminates at Hyoryeong Senior Welfare Town, will extend its route to Yeongnak Park. However, due to low demand, there will be no extension of the last bus or subway services during this year's Seollal holiday.

Additionally, to promote the use of traditional markets, Gwangju City will ease parking enforcement around traditional markets until the 30th and open market parking lots and over 250 public institution/public parking lots for free.

The city, together with the five autonomous districts, has designated the 25th to the 30th as the "Special Transportation Measures Period for Seollal Holiday" and will operate a special transportation situation room. This situation room will provide transportation convenience for citizens and grave visitors using public cemeteries, and strengthen traffic guidance and safety management in congested areas such as Gwangju Songjeong Station, Gwangcheon Terminal, and Yeongnak Park.

KORAIL will also operate additional trains on the Honam and Jeolla lines during the Seollal holiday. KORAIL’s Gwangju and South Jeolla Headquarters have designated a "Special Seollal Transportation Period" until the 2nd of next month and will implement special transportation measures.

During this period, Honam Line KTX will operate on a weekend schedule, adding 5,714 extra seats. Honam Line Mugunghwa trains will add four trips per day from the 25th to the 1st of next month, for a total of 32 additional trips. Jeolla Line KTX and Mugunghwa will add a total of 52 train services. KTX will add four trips per weekday (16 in total), and Mugunghwa will add four trips per day (36 in total). Train schedules and seat availability can be checked on the KORAIL Talk app.

◇ All-out Emergency and Medical Preparedness for a Safe Holiday

Gwangju City will designate and operate hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies that will remain open during the Seollal holiday as part of a "Special Emergency Medical System Maintenance Plan." The city and five autonomous districts will operate emergency medical situation rooms from the 25th to the 2nd of next month.

The situation rooms will minimize inconvenience by checking the operation of open medical institutions and pharmacies and providing usage guidance. Emergency contact systems will be maintained for rapid response to emergencies, disasters, and infectious disease outbreaks.

Emergency medical institutions will appoint dedicated managers to oversee on-site situations, and 21 emergency medical institutions and five emergency medical facilities will provide 24-hour emergency care as usual. The situation rooms will also work to ease the burden on emergency room staff, who are under extreme stress due to the departure of residents amid medical disputes, and encourage the distribution of minor patients to other facilities.

Additionally, an average of 725 medical institutions and 324 pharmacies will be designated per day to ensure that citizens can receive medical care and purchase medications without inconvenience. On the 29th, public health centers in the five autonomous districts will offer daytime care (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.), and 10 health clinics will be operated on a rotating basis during the holiday.

To ensure uninterrupted treatment for respiratory diseases such as influenza, 14 partner hospitals and 12 fever clinics will be designated and operated. To maintain a care system for high-risk mothers and newborns, a medical hotline will be operated with participation from fire departments, regional and local maternal and child health centers, local delivery institutions, and the regional emergency situation room.

Public night-time children's hospitals (Gwangju Christian Hospital) and Dalbit Children's Hospital (Gwangju Central Hospital) will operate for children who suddenly fall ill. Gwangju Christian Hospital will be open from 8:30 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to midnight on Sundays and holidays. Gwangju Central Hospital will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

During the same period, South Jeolla Province will also operate a medical response system, establish a hotline between mothers, newborns, and medical institutions, secure standby beds in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), and run a 24-hour on-call duty system to ensure the safety of high-risk mothers and newborns.

The hotline will be operated by a cooperative system involving South Jeolla Province, city and county governments, regional maternal and child health centers, and delivery medical institutions, enabling immediate information sharing and cooperative response in emergencies. Hyundai Women and Children's Hospital, a regional maternal and child health center, will operate one standby NICU bed to prepare for multiple births and high-risk mother care, with neonatologists and pediatricians on standby 24 hours during the holiday.

In particular, if an emergency occurs involving a high-risk mother or newborn, contacting the 119 rescue team will trigger a cooperative system between the 119 emergency situation room and the regional emergency medical situation room for rapid transfer to medical institutions. Nine delivery hospitals in South Jeolla, including Mokpo Hansarang Hospital and Suncheon Miz Women and Children's Hospital, are included, and each hospital will operate obstetrics and pediatrics beds and maintain a 24-hour standby system.

◇ Blocking the Spread of Livestock Infectious Diseases... Strengthening Quarantine

South Jeolla Province will strengthen quarantine measures ahead of Seollal in response to concerns about the spread and introduction of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI), African swine fever, and other livestock infectious diseases due to increased movement of people and vehicles. Until the 31st, all livestock farms and slaughterhouses will undergo intensive disinfection. For small farms, 99 cooperative quarantine teams and 31 leased disinfection vehicles will provide support even during the holiday.

South Jeolla Province will organize its own inspection teams to check quarantine conditions near migratory bird habitats and at poultry farms in the same network as the duck farm in Damyang, where highly pathogenic avian influenza recently occurred. Quarantine guidelines will be promoted intensively through text messages, village broadcasts, banners at village entrances, and postings on city and county websites.

The Central Accident Response Headquarters for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI) and African Swine Fever (headed by Song Mireyong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) will implement nationwide disinfection of livestock farms and promote livestock quarantine to the public as part of Seollal holiday livestock disease prevention measures.

The South Jeolla Province Animal Hygiene Laboratory will operate a livestock disease reporting center from the 25th to the 30th to respond quickly to reports of livestock diseases from farms during the Seollal holiday. The reporting center will respond rapidly to suspected cases of avian influenza (AI), African swine fever, lumpy skin disease, and other livestock diseases with swift on-site dispatch, diagnosis, and epidemiological investigation.

The Animal Hygiene Laboratory will focus on operating the livestock disease reporting center even during the Seollal holiday, a period of heightened concern about the spread of livestock diseases such as the recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza at a meat duck farm in Damyang.

Additionally, during the Seollal holiday, when population movement is high, guidance will be provided to livestock farms to minimize visits by outsiders, refrain from visiting other farms, and disinfect barns and farm surroundings daily to actively participate in efforts to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.