À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Virus infections surge during holiday periods, big data showed, backing concerns in South Korea of another outbreak during the long Chuseok holiday next week.
South Korea¡¯s top wireless carrier SK Telecom, using data analytics to track the anonymous movement of its phone subscribers, showed that a jump in virus infections coincided with an upward curve in its outdoor measurement index.
In the first week of August, when the record-long rainy season had reached its peak, the outdoor activity index dipped 12 percentage points from the previous week. But as the rain stopped and the four-day-long holiday started in the second week, the index surged 17 percentage points.
A similar pattern was witnessed in the last week of April when outdoor activity jumped 10 percentage points after the long holidays, followed by a cluster of new virus infections in Seoul nightclubs.
This has raised concerns of another outbreak after Chuseok. The three-day holidays, which start Sept. 30, is one of Korea¡¯s biggest traditional holidays and a period of mass migration that involves people traveling across the country to their hometowns for family gatherings.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë A separate index measuring travel trends showed that Jeju and Gangwon Province were the most popular domestic travel destinations as a result of the overseas travel restrictions.
According to the data, the southern resort island of Jeju received 440,000 visitors in the first two week of August, a two-year high. Travelers from Gyeonggi Province and Seoul showed the sharpest increase, with the share of visitors from the greater Seoul area rising to 63 percent from 50 percent last year.
More than half of Jeju travelers had also been to Gangwon province in the past year, data showed, reflecting the popularity of beaches and mountains among city residents.
The indexes were created after pooling the communications data of 26 million Koreans. The data is available to the public for free on KDX, Korea¡¯s first private-run data exchange platform launched last year by Maeil Broadcasting Network in consortium with local enterprises.
SK Telecom said it plans to provide updates every two weeks and continue to add new sets of indexes. It is also thinking about providing customized data through KDX as well as offering paid subscription plans and consulting services related to big data.
By Lee Dong-in and Kim Hyo-jin
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]