Image: Omni Matryx/Pixabay ()
Mayor Park Heong-joon held an emergency briefing at City Hall yesterday morning and announced that social distancing regulations will be increased to level 3 starting from midnight today.
Mayor Park said while the current social distancing measures are equivalent to that of level 3, the size of events and rallies and the operating hours of some businesses will face additional restrictions. As such, he asked the public to strictly abide by the regulations.
The city will negotiate with the central government to find support measures for small business owners burdened by the new regulations. If the current trend does not improve over the weekend, it is considering increasing restrictions to level 4, the strictest level of social distancing.
The city plans to monitor the situation until this weekend, and if the situation does not improve, it will also consider upgrading the social distancing to Level 4, the highest level.
New Restrictions
At the third level of social distancing, events and rallies for more than 50 people will not be allowed, and access to wedding halls and funeral halls will be restricted to less than 50 people.
Sports events are limited to 30% outdoor capacity (less than 20% indoors), and religious facilities are allowed open for less than 20% of seat capacity.
Schools will allow in-person classes, but the concentration of students should be between one and two-thirds.
The operation of shower rooms at exercise facilities should be prohibited, and the music speed in group exercise (GX) facilities should be maintained between 100 and 120 bpm.
With the added restrictions, banks in Busan will reduce operating hours by an hour to open from 9:30 am until 3:30 pm starting today.
Busan Sees its Highest One Day Rise in Positive Cases
97 new cases of covid-19 were found in Busan yesterday, setting a new record in the daily infection number.
Unlike last December when infection clusters were coming from nursing hospitals, small-scale chains of infections continue to spread, putting quarantine authorities on high alert.
Amid the new infections, 32 had unidentified infection routes.
After 11 3rd year high school students preparing for the college entrance exam were confirmed at a high school in Saha district, 10 others were added today including one family member and 9 acquaintances.
One contact was added in relation to the Busan Art Organization and 7 people were also added in Gyeongnam in relation to the group, raising the total to 19.
With 5 cases confirmed in relation to entertainment bars, a total of 194 related infections have been found so far.
Other local cities at level 3 include Gimhae, Yangsan, Changwon, and Tongyeong.
