South Korea’s Nationwide Election Fee launched an apology on Sunday for poor planning throughout particular early voting hours for coronavirus sufferers that resulted in unexpectedly lengthy waits at polling websites and, based on native media experiences, some sufferers fainting.
“We’re very sorry for inflicting an inconvenience to the Covid-19 sufferers in the course of the early-voting interval,” the assertion stated.
It was unknown how many individuals had been concerned, however a minimum of one individual with Covid needed to be hospitalized.
South Korea is experiencing a pointy spike in coronavirus instances, its worst wave of the pandemic. Lawmakers and well being officers had agreed final month to revise election legal guidelines to permit voters contaminated with the virus to forged a poll within the nation’s contentious presidential election.
Underneath the brand new guidelines, most of the people might vote early all day on Friday and Saturday, however virus sufferers and people in quarantine had been allowed on the polls solely throughout a restricted window on Saturday. Folks with the virus had been permitted go away dwelling to vote beginning at 5 p.m. and wanted to stroll, drive or take a cab to a polling station by 6 p.m. However having so many present up on the identical time precipitated strains of over an hour at some polls, and in lots of instances, exterior within the chilly climate.
Greater than 1 million folks in South Korea had been in in-home therapy for Covid on Saturday, the well being authorities stated. The nation was reporting a mean of greater than 208,000 new instances a day, based on the Middle for Methods Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins College.
In line with the election fee, the two-day early-voting interval had a 36.93 p.c voter turnout, which was greater than a ten share factors larger than the early-voting turnout within the 2020 parliamentary elections.
On Wednesday, Election Day, the brand new guidelines will enable voters with Covid to go away isolation to vote from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the well being authorities stated. The remainder of the citizens will be capable of vote from 6 a.m. to six p.m. as a security precaution.
Reflecting upon the mishaps in the course of the early voting weekend, the election fee stated that it will “provide you with measures as quickly as doable in order that the general public can vote with confidence on Election Day.”
In different developments:
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Hong Kong Put up will droop courier providers and parcel deliveries on Monday to concentrate on important postal providers as town faces a surge within the Omicron variant. SF Categorical, a preferred courier service in Hong Kong, has additionally suspended door-to-door deliveries, leading to lengthy strains at self-pickup areas. As dozens of residential buildings are locked down for mass testing and rising numbers of households self-isolate at dwelling, supply providers are dealing with a rise in demand and a scarcity of manpower.
Tiffany Could contributed reporting.
Supply: NY Times
