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| A visitor to a movie theater in Seoul points to a sign notifying that only vaccinated people or those with negative PCR test results can be admitted, Sunday. Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Conflicts have been taking place at cafes and restaurants, after the government introduced new quarantine guidelines last Saturday. Under the new rules, people unvaccinated against COVID-19 are banned from using the establishments unless they are alone, but some eatery owners are not accepting such people even when they are alone.
While some unvaccinated people are sharing lists of places where they are denied entry, others are even resorting to illegal means by trying to borrow others' vaccine passes.
Under the strengthened guidelines to be applied until Jan. 2, private gatherings of more than four people are prohibited and unvaccinated people can use restaurants, cafes and other multiuse facilities only when they are alone.
However, a number of unvaccinated people wrote online to share their unpleasant experiences of being rejected from eating alone at some restaurants.
"I was kicked out by an owner at a small rice soup restaurant although I was alone," one user wrote. "I told the owner that it was possible to eat alone without a vaccine pass, but the restaurant owner just told me to leave, saying I should get vaccinated to enter the store."
Another user also wrote, "An employee asked me to show a vaccine pass at a Vietnamese pho restaurant, so I said I didn't need it because I came alone, but I was asked to leave in the end."
An online community was opened on the portal Naver to share the list of eateries rejecting unvaccinated people who are alone.
"Let's share the names of restaurants, which are run by those discriminating against unvaccinated people, and continue our boycott even after the pandemic ends," the person who opened the community wrote.
A social media account sharing a list of more than 100 restaurants had more than 3,700 followers as of 2 p.m. on Monday.
Regarding the dispute, health authorities said that eatery owners refusing unvaccinated people who are alone are not violating the law on infectious diseases, because the law is only about imposing fines on the owners if they accept unvaccinated people who are not alone.
"I believe the issue is related to rules on customer protection in terms of discrimination, but we need to check exactly which rules can be applied," Son Youg-rae, a senior health ministry official, said in a regular briefing, Monday.
Amid the situation, a posting was uploaded to an online secondhand market by a user who was willing to rent other people's vaccine pass certification for 50,000 won ($42).
In the posting, the user said, "I will pay 50,000 won to borrow an ID for the portal site (which shows the vaccine records) from a person who has completed vaccination."
Vaccination records can be checked through portal sites such as Naver and Kakao.
Other online users criticized the posting. "It is obviously illegal and this is why the country's COVID-19 crisis is getting worse," one user replied.
Those fabricating vaccine passes can be subject to up to 10 years in jail, and those using another person's vaccine pass are subject to 100,000 won in fines, according to the relevant laws.
In the meantime, the country reported 5,318 new infections for Sunday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The number of critically ill patients stood at 997 and 54 died.
With a high and growing number of critical cases leading to hospital bed shortages, President Moon Jae-in ordered national university hospitals to focus their medical resources on treating critically ill coronavirus patients, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
"I ask public hospitals in the capital area to change into hospitals exclusively for infectious diseases if possible, and private hospitals to support this effort by caring for other patients," Moon was quoted as saying by presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.
