Second Coupang distribution center hit by coronavirus

A sign on Coupang’s distribution center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, says that operations are suspended. [YONHAP]

An employee at a second Coupang distribution center was confirmed a coronavirus patient on Thursday, the e-commerce operator announced Thursday morning.

Coupang shut down the center in Goyang, Gyeonggi, after the worker tested positive.

The patient last went to work on Tuesday, when symptoms started to show.

The number of infections linked to Coupang’s distribution center in Bucheon, Gyeonggi, jumped to 69 as of Thursday morning after the first coronavirus-positive employee was confirmed on May 23.

“Quarantine rules within the company, like taking a rest when sick and wearing masks, don’t seem to have been followed at the distribution center,” said Health Minister Park Neung-hoo on Thursday.

More than 4,000 people connected to the distribution center in Bucheon are either being self-quarantined or tested.

Coupang has yet to offer an apology to customers. It assured them that the products it delivers are safe on Tuesday, when the issue started generating buzz.

“The e-commerce company on Tuesday wrote in a statement, “Coupang is ready to take measures against everything that is necessary beyond customers’ safety. All the products customers ordered up until now and in the future are safe from the threat of Covid-19.”

Market Kurly CEO and founder Sophie Kim apologized Wednesday evening after an employee at a distribution center was confirmed a coronavirus patient.

The e-commerce operator on Wednesday confirmed that a day laborer who worked at its distribution center in Songpa District in southern Seoul tested positive. The patient worked at a center handling room-temperature products on May 24. The center is being disinfected.

“[I’m] sorry for raising concerns to customers for the sudden emergence of a coronavirus patient,” Kim wrote.

Market Kurly said all the unpackaged food at the distribution center that can’t be disinfected like bread and bananas will be discarded. The company added the distribution center is physically divided from its four other distribution centers, and that workers at different centers don’t have contact with each other.

Market Kurly has five distribution centers in Songpa, Yongin and Namyangju in Gyeonggi.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]