SEOUL: The South Korean government on Tuesday (Nov 7) announced that it is launching a four-week-long campaign to fight bedbug infestations amid escalating public fears that the pests are spreading across the country.
Under the plan, the government will carry out inspections at “vulnerable facilities” from Nov 13 to Dec 8. They include bathhouses, dormitories and public transportation.Â
Facilities where bedbugs are found will be immediately disinfected, reported Yonhap.
The move by Seoul comes as the number of confirmed or suspected cases of bedbug appearances nationwide rose to about 30, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
The first reports surfaced in September after students at Keimyung University in Daegu, around 240km away from the capital Seoul, were bitten by bedbugs in their dormitory, according to The Independent.
Only nine cases of bedbug appearances had been reported to the health authorities in the 10 years since 2014, Yonhap noted.
South Korean authorities also plan to convene weekly meetings to review and update measures to contain bedbug infestations, Yonhap reported.