South Korea’s government used 300 drones in an unusual display to thank front line workers and to encourage citizens to continue practicing virus-containment measures.
The nation’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport coordinated a 10-minute synchronized light show that lit up the night sky above the Han River in the country’s capital of Seoul on July 4.
The drones were used to create images of medical workers in protective gear along with images of handwashing, people wearing masks, and people socially distancing from one another.
To avoid having large crowds gather to watch the spectacle, the light show was not advertised ahead of time.
While South Korea is often cited as an example of a country acting swiftly to contain the spread of the virus, there have been new clusters popping up in the country.
South Korea reported 63 new confirmed cases on Saturday, 36 of which were locally transmitted and 27 imported, said Kwon Joon-wook, deputy director of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a briefing.
Among cluster infections, 25 cases were linked to an apartment in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, 16 to an indoor gym an apartment resident had visited, 61 to a temple in Gwangju, and 24 to a church in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province.
“Mutated coronavirus has been detected in South Korea and an epidemic investigation team has been dispatched to Gwangju,” said Kwon. “It is concerning that the virus seems to be spreading faster than the past cases in Daegu and North Gyeongsang province.”