Banning meetings with more than 5 people, what is the difference between the metropolitan area and the non-metropolitan area?

2020/12/23 15:28

Reservations and entry for more than 5 people in restaurants nationwide from 00:00 hours from January 24 to 3 of next year are prohibited. The announcement came a day after the administrative order ‘banning private meetings with more than 5 people’ in the metropolitan area was issued. Many people get confused when similar measures are announced one after another. We look at the differences between metropolitan and non-capital areas regarding the prohibition of private gatherings.

◇ If you go to the metropolitan area, meetings with more than 5 people become more strict
Gatherings of five or more people, banned by ‘special quarantine measures’ across the country, are restricted to restaurants only. On the other hand, all private gatherings except funerals and weddings were banned in the metropolitan area. Even if you are not a resident of the metropolitan area, you cannot have a private meeting with more than 5 people in the metropolitan area. In addition, residents of the metropolitan area cannot hold private meetings with more than 5 people even if they go to the non-capital area. If there is a person confirmed in violation of this, a fine of 3 million won or less or a claim for the right to build related expenses is applied. However, if a resident of a non-metropolitan area is confirmed in a place other than a restaurant in the non-metropolitan area, no fines are imposed even if a private meeting is held with 5 or more people.

Taepo Yoon, head of quarantine prevention at Accident Control Headquarters, said: “It is difficult to guarantee the enforcement power of banning gatherings of five or more people across the country because various inconveniences and contradictions may appear in everyday life. “. “As a lot is happening, it is caused by a mandatory administrative order that bans meals for more than 5 people.” If a restaurant violates the ban on meetings with more than 5 people, a fine of 3 million won or less is imposed on the operator and 100,000 won or less on the user. Both measures do not constitute a ban on gatherings if you live in a house due to resident registration.

◇ In addition to banning meetings … Stop sports and tourist facilities
As residents of the metropolitan area have already been subject to strict distancing rules, special national quarantine measures are not new. However, sightseeing is expected to be difficult this holiday. With this special quarantine measure, winter sports facilities and tourist attractions that are expected to be used by many people will be suspended. Winter sports facilities include a ski resort, a snow sled run and a skating rink. Among the tourist attractions, Ulsan Ganjeolgot, Pohang Homigot, and Seoul’s Namsan Park are closed. In places where the concept of closure is not applied because it is open to the public like Jeong Dong-jin, a prohibition line or sign will be put up.

Nursing hospital workers residing in the metropolitan area are required to perform a PCR diagnostic test of the gene amplification method every week. Recently, the infection is spreading in nursing hospitals, which is one measure. There is also a plan to expand the test to once or twice a week by using a rapid antigen test.