SEOUL: South Korea will hold parliamentary elections on April 15 at 14,330 polling stations across the nation amid the coronavirus pandemic, the election watchdog said on Monday.
To promote voters' accessibility, 99.1 per cent of the polling stations will be set up on the first floor of designated facilities or at those with elevators, Yonhap New Agency quoted the National Election Commission (NEC) as saying.
To prioritize voter safety due to the ongoing pandmic, the NEC earlier said voters will have their temperature checked at the entrance and should keep a distance of at least 1 metre from others while waiting to vote. Polling booths and ballot stamps will be disinfected.
South Korea recorded fewer than 50 new coronavirus cases on Monday, marking the lowest number since late February, as the nation extended strict guidelines on social distancing.
South Korea has recorded around 100 or fewer daily new cases for more than three weeks, but health authorities remain on high alert over cluster infections at churches and hospitals, as well as new cases coming from overseas, said a Yonhap News Agency report.
The 47 new cases, detected on Sunday and down from 81 new cases a day earlier, brought the nation's total infections to 10,284.
The nation's death toll rose by three to 186, while more than 130 recovered from the virus Sunday, raising the total number of cured people to 6,598, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The watchdog has advised people to wear face masks to cast their ballots.
It also plans to establish makeshift polling booths to enable people with COVID-19 symptoms to vote.
The NEC said it has sent election-related information booklets about political parties and candidates to households. It has also sent ballots to nearly 10,530 people who have applied to cast ballots at their residences.
COVID-19 patients being treated at hospitals or designated facilities and people in a two-week isolation period at home will be able to vote via mail if they applied to do so between March 24 and 28.
The watchdog, meanwhile, said shipboard voting will be conducted on 394 vessels involving 2,821 crewmen between Tuesday and Friday.
The voting date will be decided by captains during the period.