The Jeju Municipal Police announced plans to concentrate its capacity on the COVID-19 prevention measures by deploying 480 officers to popular spring flower-viewing spots in Jeju between March 20 and April 18, following the surge in the influx of spring tourists.

To this end, all traffic police officers and resident volunteer corp, such as the Sidecar Squad, will be urgently deployed around the spots where the crowds gather to enjoy spring flowers. The spring flower-viewing spots they are focusing on include Cherry Blossom Road at Jeju National University, the area near Donam Citizen’s Welfare Town, Aewol and Jangjeon Cherry Blossom Festival Roads, Saebyeol Oreum area, Canola Road on Noksan-ro in Pyoseon, Canola Road in Hwasun, Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak, and Lee Joong-seop Street.

The municipal police will intensively guide and inspect whether or not disease-preventive rules are violated, which includes the prohibition of private gatherings of five people or more and failure to wear masks. They will also arrange traffic flows to relieve inconvenience caused by congestion of nearby vehicles. In the case of minor violations of COVID-19 regulations, officers will first provide guidance. Those who violate the regulations and maliciously increase the risk of infection to others will face severe responses, which includes being quarantined on the spot.

Also, if the spring flower viewers abruptly crowd spaces, traffic safety measures customized to each site will be implemented, such as controlling the surrounding traffic and diverting the vehicles entering them.

“The traffic congestion is increasing due to the recent influx of visitors to watch the spring flowers, and there is fear that having such a high concentration of visitors may lead to a loophole in the disease prevention system,” said the Jeju Municipal Police, assuring that they will “concentrate best efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by guiding and inspecting traffic flows.”