New Coronavirus News from 16 Dec 2021

Korea’s Movie Industry Warns of Collapse as COVID Restrictions Return [Variety, 16 Dec 2021]

By Patrick Frater

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has achieved pandemic-era records in its first two days in Korean cinemas. But Korean theater operators are warning of industry “collapse” as the country adopts revived anti-COVID measures on Saturday.

The new measures were announced on Thursday and mean a return of social distancing measures and restrictions for a minimum of two weeks. These include a maximum of four people in restaurants, a 9 p.m. curfew for bars and clubs, and a 10 p.m. curfew in cinemas and concert venues.

Film distributors have responded by delaying the planned release of some titles. Cinemas have reacted by rescheduling screenings this weekend and reimbursing some pre-sold tickets.

That is certain to mean a slowing of the blistering box office pace seen by “Spider-Man” in its first two days. The film, which has a running time of nearly two and a half hours, sold 635,000 tickets on its Wednesday debut with a gross value of $5.27 million, according to data from the Kobis tracking service. On Thursday, it added a further 391,000 tickets worth $3.29 million.

Film trade organizations including the Producers Guild of Korea, Directors Guild of Korea, The Association of Korean Buyers & Distributors of Foreign Films in Korea, Screenwriters Guild of Korea and Korea Theater Association, published a joint statement on Thursday asking the government to rethink the measures.

They argue that cinemas are not significant health hazards, and that the film industry has been particularly badly hit by the previous anti-COVID measures. Restrictions were only loosened a few weeks ago at the beginning of November.

“Movie theaters have been actively pursuing preventive measures much stricter than what the government has required to provide a safe environment [for audiences to see the films],” the statement said. “The damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years is growing uncontrollably. The operating limits [night time curfews] for movie theaters hinder new films from being released and will spread to the industry itself, ultimately leading to its collapse like a domino effect.”

The new restrictions weigh on the planned release of Hollywood films including Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix Resurrections” and Disney’s “The King’s Man,” which are both scheduled to debut next Wednesday.

Several local films have also announced disruptions. Political thriller “The Kingmaker” has canceled its Dec. 29 outing and instead is aiming for a late January start. Action thriller “Emergency Declaration” has ditched its early January release and has not announced a new date. Crime action film “Special Delivery” shifted its launch date from Jan. 5 to Jan. 12, hoping that the restrictions will only be short-lived.

November’s brief interlude between restrictions gave cinemas a glimmer of hope. Aggregate November 2021 grosses reached KRW66 billion ($55 million), roughly double that of November 2020, but only 42% of pre-COVID in 2019. Korea’s annual box office total remains at roughly 2020 levels.

New Coronavirus News from 17 Dec 2021

Covid-19: Omicron spreading at lightning speed - French PM [BBC News, 17 Dec 2021]

The Omicron variant is "spreading at lightning speed" in Europe and will likely become dominant in France by the start of next year, French Prime Minister Jean Castex has warned.

He spoke on Friday, hours before France imposed strict travel restrictions on those entering from the United Kingdom.

The UK has so far been the hardest hit in the region, with nearly 15,000 confirmed Omicron cases on Friday.

Across the continent, health officials are bracing for a wave of infections.
Additional restrictions were announced in Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands on Friday as governments seek to stem the tide.

Europe has already seen more than 89 million cases and 1.5 million Covid-related deaths, according to the latest EU figures.

But Germany's Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told reporters on Friday the country "must prepare for a challenge that we have not yet had in this form", while its public health agency designated France, Norway and Denmark as "high risk" due to rising infections in those countries. Germany itself reported more than 42,000 cases on Saturday, down from 50,000 new infections recorded on Friday.

In Ireland, where a third of new cases have been due to the new variant, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said they were expecting "to see infections at a rate that is far in excess of anything we have seen to date".

The warnings came as the UK reported a record number of Covid infections for a third day in a row - more than 93,000 - largely driven by Omicron.

France closed its borders to people travelling from the UK for business or tourism at 23:00 GMT on Friday, with huge queues forming at the Port of Dover and Eurostar terminals as people tried to enter before the ban came into effect.

It is not the only country tightening its controls. Earlier this week, Italy, Greece and Portugal announced that visitors from the EU will need to present a negative test result on arrival - even those who have been vaccinated.

Speaking hours before the new rules came in, Mr Castex said the travel restrictions were part of a series of measures being brought in to stem the tide of infections.

They include shortening the gap between the second and third dose of vaccine, and requiring a full vaccination to enter restaurants and long-distance public transport.

Additionally, all official New Years Eve celebrations and firework displays have been cancelled.
Mr Castex also said the government would announce new steps to tackle vaccine hesitancy next year, saying it was "not acceptable that the refusal of a few million French people to be vaccinated puts the life of an entire country at risk".

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Dutch health experts have said the country should go into a "strict" lockdown, local media has reported.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said Omicron could be the country's dominant strain by January, similar to France.

Since late November, bars, restaurants and most shops have been ordered to close between 17:00 and 05:00 local time. This measure was meant to end before Christmas, but will now continue until 14 January.

The Netherlands recorded more than 15,400 infections on Friday - less than previous days, but far higher overall than any other time during the pandemic.

As the Dutch healthcare system deals with an influx of Covid patients, routine care and all but urgent operations have been postponed.

The hospitality industry in the Republic of Ireland has said it will be devastated by new rules from Monday that mean pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas must close every night by 20:00 local time.

The move has also been criticised by some politicians from Ireland's governing coalition, who said the new rules would encourage more gatherings in people's homes.

Sports venues will have to operate at 50% capacity or have attendance numbers capped at 5,000. Wedding celebrations will be allowed to go on until midnight - with a maximum of 100 guests.

There is already a limit of four households allowed to socialise together inside a home.

Tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) Leo Varadkar said the government would announce financial measures on Monday to support businesses affected by the new rules.

South Korea’s restaurants despair amid ‘living with COVID’ U-turn [Al Jazeera English, 17 Dec 2021]

By Morten Soendergaard Larsen

Authorities have reintroduced restricted hours for restuarants, cafes and bars amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

[Correction
An earlier version of this article said small businesses were eligible for government payments of 100 million won ($84,000). The correct amount is 1 million won ($840).]

Seoul, South Korea – Only weeks after South Korea launched its “living with COVID” drive to return to normal life, small business owners like Lee Kyuna are feeling the pressure all over again.

From Saturday until at least January 2, Lee will be forced to close her restaurant by 9pm each day under a business curfew introduced to blunt a record surge in coronavirus cases.

The owner of Kantina, a restaurant in a quiet residential area of Seoul, is still recovering from the impact of the last round of restrictions, which only lifted on November 1.

“The revenue says it all – 40 percent drop,” Lee told Al Jazeera. “Seriously. Normally I would have customers until 12 or 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. But that just all stopped.”

Lee’s restaurant is among the 2.7 million small businesses in South Korea feeling the pain of pandemic restrictions, the latest of which includes a curfew for restaurants, cafes, bars and cinemas, and a ban on private gatherings of more than four people.

Although South Korea’s economy has weathered the pandemic better than many of its peers – growing an estimated 4 percent in 2021 on the back of strong exports and rebound of the global economy – mom-and-pop businesses have been hit with repeated rounds of restrictions on their business hours.

In September, business owners took to the streets to protest the curfews and restrictions, which organisers said had resulted in the permanent closure of 453,000 businesses during the pandemic.

Nine-ninety percent of enterprises in Korea are considered small and medium businesses, employing 83 percent of the workforce, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

The latest restrictions come despite South Korea having one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, with more than 80 percent of the total population doubled-jabbed.

Chuck Chun, who runs an American-style restaurant in central Seoul, told Al Jazeera the business environment had forced him to adjust plans to open an outlet at another location.

“We ended up opening up another restaurant as a delivery kitchen, that was our pivot,” Chun said. “When we have less in-house customers here, the deliveries there go up, but it never makes up for people actually coming in.”

“People stay here a few hours, and they drink, and they eat, and they continue to drink,” Chun added. “We’re losing out on all of that business. And on top of that, we’re paying a 30 percent, fee [on deliveries], so yes, it’s helpful, because it’s helping us keep our head above water. But it’s not worth it.”

Minister of SMEs and Startups Kwon Chil-seung announced on Friday that businesses affected by the latest rules would be eligible for payments of 1 million Korean won ($840) each by no later than February.

The financial support comes on top of billions of dollars the government has already spent on pandemic relief, including a 310 trillion won ($261.59bn) package last year that included low-interest loans and emergency grants for small businesses.

“Everybody is expecting a gloomy New Year, we’re expecting a lot of civil complaints about getting paid,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups told Al Jazeera.

“Some might not be satisfied, but the amount will be higher than last time.”

Lee Doo-won, a macroeconomy professor at Yonsei University, told Al Jazeera the economy was feeling the strain despite relatively strong gross domestic product (GDP) figures on paper.

“After the vaccination program began early this year, the number of infected people decreased rapidly. So, there was a fairly optimistic view about consumption and investment,” Lee said.

“But then we had the Delta variant sometime in the middle of this summer and then another one, the Omicron variant. So, consumption is not picking up as fast as we expected.”

‘Sinking boat’
For Lee, the restaurant owner in Seoul, the latest restrictions have left her considering her options if her business goes under.

“I will have to think of a plan B or C,” she said. “Maybe get my deposit back from my apartment and live with my parents again. It could be any day really if I try plan B and it doesn’t work, in the next months I’ll move in with them.”

While Lee is angry, she hopes to redirect that energy in a positive direction after switching up her menu from Japanese-style chicken, which mostly attracted late-night revellers, to Mediterranean food.

“I wanted to cook and serve people what I’m really enthusiastic about and what I’m passionate about, and my passion was in Mediterranean food,” she said. “The pandemic kind of gave me the opportunity to do something that I really like. I had to kind of find something that I could pursue and put my energy on instead of just be a sinking boat.”