Police officers ban entry into a plastic factory in Namyangju, some 20 kilometers east of Seoul, on Feb. 18, 2021, after over 100 workers tested positive for COVID-19. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Concerns are rising over instances in which foreign workers have been blamed for the outbreak of the coronavirus in a number of factories.
The Central Disease Control Headquarters reported that recent COVID-19 outbreaks in plants were primarily caused by staff-to-staff infections, explaining that closed and concentrated working environment and shared space, along with shared residence of foreign workers have caused massive outbreaks.
To prevent future infections, foreign workers need to be accommodated separately, and improvements need to be made to work environments, experts say.
However, many employers are barely hanging onto management due to the coronavirus, without any capability to address these issues immediately.
Some sentiments are inciting hatred towards foreign workers, blaming them for these outbreaks.
Some are even calling for all foreign workers to be deported.
Nevertheless, overall public opinion sees foreign workers as another group of victims of the coronavirus, who shouldn’t be blamed.
“Massive infections were caused by the poor working environment, exposing foreign workers to the risk of infection,” said the minor opposition Justice Party in a press statement..
“They had no choice but to live in shared spaces because they were incapable of getting rooms individually.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
