Itaewon club-linked COVID-19 threatens the industry

As the workers on the 10th floor are confirmed, emergency prevention measures and telecommuting work begin on the 11th.

companies near the building where the confirmed patient has occurred are working normally

Seoul Square building in Jung-gu, Seoul

The pharmaceutical industry is straining as the number of confirmed COVID-19 from Seoul Itaewon Club increases.

 

Pharmaceutical companies in the Seoul Square building where COVID-19 confirmed patients visited Itaewon went into emergency telecommuting, and nearby pharmaceutical companies are also watching closely.

 

According to the industry on the 11th, MSD Korea and Korea Mundipharma, who entered the Seoul Square building in Jung-gu, Seoul, entered an emergency telecommuting work on this day.

 

This is due to the fact that an employee of Pernold Ricard Korea, a company that imports and distributes alcoholic beverages, was confirmed COVID-19 after a visit to the area near Itaewon in Seoul.

 

Pernold Ricard Korea has an office on the 10th floor of Seoul Square.

 

Seoul Square carried out quarantine of the entire building over the weekend and closed the 10th floor.

 

The policy is not to close the entire building immediately, but to decide whether to close the building based on the results of the epidemiological investigation.

 

On the 10th, MSD Korea and Korea Mundipharma, which had received notice of outbreak of confirmed cases, decided to carry out telecommuting for one day on the 11th and implemented their own quarantine.

 

These companies have just started working in the office again, and are worried about whether they will return to work from home.

 

MSD Korea has returned to normal business since the 27th of last month.

 

The office workers work in the office, and the sales positions are made to be flexible depending on the workplace.

 

Mundipharma has also applied its own guidelines to resume office activities as far as possible, while office workers go to the office three times a week from the end of April.

 

Both companies are observing the trend for one day on the 11th and then deciding whether to go to work on the 12th through management meetings.

 

Pharmaceutical companies that are not companies in Seoul Square are also watching carefully.

 

Companies near the building with confirmed patients are more nervous.

 

Beringer Ingelheim Korea is located in the Yonsei Severance Building, just next to Seoul Square.

 

Employees of Boehringer Ingelheim are currently working normally on the 11th.

 

Instead of switching to telecommuting right away, they are watching the occurrence trend of Itaewon's confirmed cases, including the news of the partial closure of the Seoul Square building.

 

GSK and Janssen Korea, which have offices in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, do not have any changes in their attendance policy at this time.

 

GSK ended telecommuting on the 6th and began to go to the office, and Janssen Korea has been applying for a policy to go to work every other day since the end of April.

 

The two companies worked in telecommuting in February when a confirmed patient occurred in the office on the 16th floor of the same building.

 

It is said that the situation is being watched by the spread of Itaewon club-linked COVID-19 and measures to close nearby buildings, but there are no plans to resume telecommuting at this time.

 

The Yongsan LS Tower, where GSK and Janssen Korea resides, is located a 10-minute walk from the LG Uplus Yongsan office building, which was closed from the 11th.

 

LG Uplus, a telecommunications company, shut down the Yongsan office building in Seoul for three days from the 11th, when an employee went to the Itaewon Club on the 10th and was confirmed positive.

 

An official from the pharmaceutical industry said that the company attempted to resume sales marketing activities while switching to distancing in daily life, but concerns about COVID-19 re-proliferation are increasing.

 

He said he was worried about going back to a month ago.