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South Korea has been battling its largest wave of infections so
far, though vaccinations among vulnerable populations and key
workers have limited serious cases.
South Korea reported 1,202 new COVID-19 cases for Monday raising
the total to 202,203 infections, with 2,104 deaths. The country
detected its first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19
variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA)
said on Tuesday.
"It feels like I'm in igloo and I can refresh myself here," a
medical staffer Jung Tae-du said on Tuesday while resting in a
bus at a walk-through coronavirus testing centre in Namyangju, a
city just outside the capital Seoul.
The 22 buses are usually used as resting spaces by police and
fire fighters and are being deployed on a rotating basis to
temporary testing centres, according to the Health Ministry.
"The working environment of medical workers at testing centres
is similar to that of firefighters, so we decided to provide
recovery buses to help them as the prolonged coronavirus
situation and heat waves aggravate their difficulties," Shin
Yeol-woo, Fire Commissioner of South Korea's National Fire
Agency told Reuters.
The National Fire Agency said some buses are equipped with
shower booths and bunk beds, and stocked with cups of instant
noodles and kimchi. The agency is considering providing another
82 fire station buses upon request by local government.
(Reporting by Yeni Seo and Daewoung Kim; Writing by Minwoo Park;
Editing by Josh Smith and Raissa Kasolowsky)
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