Nightclubs to shut due to recent return of COVID-19 cases in South Korea

29-Year-Old who attended nightclub linked to 17 new COVID-19 cases emerged as of Saturday in Itaewon, South Korea.

 

South Korea, one of the few nations who seemingly had simmered down the threat of COVID-19 were able to relax the social distancing guidelines in place. This may have been just a step to soon with all nightlife establishments set to close after a recent increase of number of infections.

 

Mayor Park Won-soon has now announced that there has been an increase of 40 new coronavirus cases in Seoul, despite the country recently claiming to record only single digit infection cases. It is apparent that the cases are linked to the nightlife industry, particularly those based in the district of Itaewon which saw some nightclubs reopen from Friday, 24th April. Although certain social distancing measures were taken into account with the club-goers wearing masks and capacities significantly reduced.

 

‘Approximately 1,500 people attended the affected clubs, such as. Trunk Club, King Club and Club Queen last weekend’. (Health Authorities, Yonhap News Agency). The question that needs to be raised would be, how responsible is nightlife for this increase in number of cases? Data announced by the country, informed the public that a total of 17 out of 18 new cases could be linked to the ’29-Year-Old’ nightclub attendee.