Market Kurly’s 315 workers test negative for COVID-19

Market Kurly said Friday that 315 people linked to a COVID-19 case at its logistic center have all tested negative for the disease.

The online grocery platform had one virus infection case involving a part-time worker at one of its logistics centers in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on May 27, which prompted the company to conduct the round of virus tests on employees and visitors at the center.

Market Kurly and the government sorted out and designated 315 people linked to the center and had them tested for the virus, and the results came out as negative for all, the company said.

“Since the COVID-19 case, we are putting more efforts in disinfection of all our facilities, including the logistic centers, and also sterilize all the products before delivering them to the customers,” Market Kurly said in a press release Friday.

All 315 people will be put under self-quarantine for two weeks, and the employees will discuss the date to return to work, the company added.

Meanwhile, four more COVID-19 cases have been confirmed linked to Coupang’s Bucheon logistics center on Friday, raising the cluster of infection cases to 124.

The e-commerce giant first had one part-time worker confirmed for the virus infection on May 23. Due to the company’s belated precautionary measures, related infections spiked in recent days, triggering criticisms against the company for its idle handling of the situation.

The company is now controlling the delivery supply. It has blocked orders for its dawn delivery service in some parts of Seoul by changing product statuses to appear as “temporarily out of stock.”

To that, the company said it is due to “lack of delivery capacity,” and that it is part of efforts to smooth its operations. The company did not confirm whether it is due to a lack of delivery workers after the COVID-19 cases.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)