This file photo shows people checking their phones at a bus stop in central Seoul amid the new coronavirus pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The central and local governments will halt their emergency coronavirus text alerts, the interior ministry said.
The ministry sent a notice to local governments to refrain from sending emergency text alerts about details on new infection cases and antivirus measures.
In the notice, the ministry pointed out that users are increasingly weary of the repetitive alerts and it could weaken the effect of the government’s mobile notification system.
It added that instead of a simple change in daily COVID-19 cases emergency text alerts should be sent for more urgent and important issues such as changes in regulations.
The emergency notification system has played a key role in containing COVID-19 by swiftly delivering relevant information.
But at the same time, more people have complained of its excessiveness and redundancy, with the same information available on the central and provincial governments’ websites and social media pages.
More than 20 local governments are still sending emergency text alerts on the number of daily new infections, but the number is expected to continue to decline.
According to the ministry, about 145,000 emergency text alerts related to COVID-19 were sent nationwide by central and local governments for three years from 2020 to 2022.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
