Lotte Duty Free has re-opened its Jeju downtown store in Seoul today (7 February), TRBusiness can confirm.

The store temporarily closed earlier this week (3 February) in order for disinfection and quarantining procedures to be carried out.

At the same time, the South Korean travel retailer has closed its main Myeongdong shop from 14:00pm (local time) to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The store is due to be re-opened on Monday (10 February).

The action was taken following a notification from the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention that the country’s 23^rd patient – a Chinese visitor – had travelled to the Myeongdong department store, which is housed on the same site.

MORE STORE CLOSURES?

Lotte says the temporary closure is designed to guard the health and safety of its employees and customers.

Its other domestic stores at World Tower Tower and COEX are understood to be trading, although a Lotte Duty Free source says there is ‘no guarantee’ that scenario will continue.

“Our airport and downtown stores are operating fine, but a lot of stores in Korea – supermarkets and department stores – are temporarily closed,” they said.

An emergency response committee chaired by CEO Kap Lee has been set-up to implement protection measures and Lotte Duty Free says its stores are being ‘scrutinised’ every day.

China’s National Health Commission has reported more than 630 deaths and more than 31,000 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus.

The World Health Organization earlier this week announced a US$675m Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan through to April to help the international community deal with the outbreak.