Seoul’s hospitality industry shut down again due to new coronavirus outbreak
While we’re eagerly waiting to hear that the hospitality industry will really be allowed to reopen on 1 June, all nightlife venues in the South Korean capital Seoul have already had to close again. The virus has started spreading once more.
Clubs, pubs and bars: they have all been closed until further notice because of a number of infections in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon, news agency Yonhap reports.
After China, where the outbreak began, South Korea was one of the first countries where the virus was detected. With the consequences of the SARS outbreak still fresh in their minds, the country immediately introduced strict measures. As a result, the number of infections and deaths remained limited.
Outbreak in Itaewon
In order to gradually return to normal life, the hospitality industry reopened on Friday 24 April. That’s where things went wrong. Last week, a 29-year-old man tested positive for the virus. During the night from Friday 1 to Saturday 2 May, he had visited five clubs in Itaewon.
Thousands of people who had also been there, along with their families, were immediately tested. On Tuesday, the number of new infections stood at 101. That’s not a huge number in a country with fifty million inhabitants, but it does show how quickly the virus can rear its head again.
Everything closed again
So everything in Seoul has to close again. “We have seen how quickly the virus can spread again if we are not careful. That has now become clear,” said the mayor of Seoul.
In South Korea, the virus has been detected in 10,840 people, and 256 people have died from it.
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