Gyeonggi Province lifts childcare facility closure orders starting the 18th and resumes normal operations

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province will lift the closure order for all 10,835 childcare facilities in the province starting the 18th and resume normal operations. This comes 173 days after the province ordered facility closures on February 27 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare lifted the nationwide childcare facility closure on June 1, but the Seoul metropolitan area including Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province maintained closures in accordance with reinforced quarantine measures. With this order lifting, other metropolitan area childcare facilities in Seoul and Incheon will also open their doors starting the 18th.
However, while the province-level childcare facility closure is lifted, separate closures by city and county remain possible depending on the COVID-19 situation, the province explained.

As the prolonged closure has increased the burden on parents to provide home care, the necessity for childcare facility reopening has been continuously raised. In fact, the utilization rate of emergency childcare services for infants and young children who have difficulty receiving home care due to dual-income families increased from 11.5% on February 27, when closures began, to 87% by July 23.

After reopening, childcare facilities must comply with quarantine guidelines in accordance with the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "COVID-19 Response Guidelines for Childcare Facilities." Additionally, if a contact is identified within a facility, the facility must close until the contact receives a final negative test result or is released from quarantine. In the event of a confirmed case, the facility must close for 14 days from the date of confirmation or until all contacts within the facility receive negative test results or are released from quarantine.

Yi Soon-neum, director of the Women and Family Department of Gyeonggi Province, said, "Even after reopening, Gyeonggi Province and cities and counties will make every effort in quarantine measures through regular inspections so parents and children can use childcare facilities with confidence," and urged, "Childcare facilities are asked to pay particular attention to quarantine management in preparation for reopening."