From thermal screening to disinfection lamps: Bus stands in South Korea become shelters to battle coronavirus

South Korea has started a new facility, which will give bus travellers high-tech protection not only from rains, but also from novel coronavirus.

These first-of-its-kind bus shelters that have been installed in a northeastern district of Seoul will provide a new front in the fight against COVID-19.

This enclosed space has temperature-checking doors and will only open if a passenger's body temperature is less than 37.5 degrees Celsius (99.5 Fahrenheit). A camera is also installed at a lower height to screen children.

The air-conditioning systems inside the booths have ultraviolet lamps installed to kill viruses at the same time as the air gets cooled. 
 

If one doesn't get a good internet connection inside the booth, they can access free WiFi too. Inside the glass-made walls, there is a panel too that tells the estimated arrival times after making calculations related to the traffic. 

"I feel really safe in here because I know others around me had their temperatures checked as well as me," Kim Ju-li, a 49-year-old who is using the facility for the first time said, reported news agency AFP. 
 

When the coronavirus crisis began, South Korea was one of the first countries outside China that saw a great rise in coronavirus cases. However, following a strategy of "tracing, testing and treating", the country was able to successfully tackle the deadly virus, without imposing lockdowns.