Population mobility falls 9.4% in March amid pandemic

Vehicles travel in a traffic jam during rush hour, amid concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in Seoul, April 27, 2020. Reuters

The number of South Koreans who changed residences to a different region fell in March, data showed Tuesday, amid the coronavirus pandemic that led to strict social distancing guidelines.

The number of people who changed their residences declined 9.4 percent last month from a year earlier to 766,000, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

Compared with a month earlier, however, the number climbed 19.4 percent, the data showed.

The population mobility rate ― the number of those changing residences for every 100 people ― fell 1.5 percentage points to 17.6.

The government's stricter regulations on mortgage loans, an effort to reduce household debt, also affected population mobility.

After four weeks of strict social distancing and aggressive testing, South Korea appears to have brought the disease under control, with the nation reporting about 10 or fewer daily new infections for the eighth consecutive day.

South Korea eased some restrictions in the social distancing guidelines on April 19, but officials have warned that a new wave of infections could come at anytime because the virus can spread through people who have no symptoms. (Yonhap)