A street in Jongno in downtown Seoul, once a mecca for bar hoppers before COVID-19 outbreaks, is quiet and empty amid the new coronavirus on Aug. 23, 2021. South Korea enforces the toughest social distancing scheme of Level 4 in the greater Seoul area, ordering restaurants and cafes to be closed at 9 p.m. and banning parties of more than two people. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The social distancing guidelines that have been kept in place from July are no longer having a clear impact on population mobility, data showed Wednesday.
According to population mobility big data from SK Telecom Co. and Statistics Korea, the number of displacements during the period from July 12 to 18 when the toughest Level 4 social distancing rule was implemented in the greater Seoul area totaled 32.02 million cases, down 2.3 percent from 32.78 million cases a week prior.
Displacements classified as an individual moving to another administrative district within a city and remaining there for at least 30 minutes.
On the next week (July 19 to 25), however, the number of displacements rose by 0.8 percent to 32.29 million cases compared to a prior.
During the period from July 26 to 31, the number of displacements reached 33.45 million cases, up 3.6 percent from a week earlier. This figure is higher than the number recorded before the implementation of the Level 4 social distancing guidelines.
The number of personal displacements showed no clear signs of declining even in August.
During the periods from August 1 to 7 and from August 8 to 16, there were 33.34 million and 33.32 million displacements, respectively, down 0.3 percent and 0.06 percent on a week-to-week basis.
A meaningful decline in the number of displacements occurred during the period from August 16 to 22, six weeks after the Level 4 social distancing guidelines were implemented.
This situation is contrast to the first, second and third waves of pandemic, when the number of displacements plunged along with an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
