BUSINESSES STRUGGLE AMID SPREAD OF VIRUS

[Anchor Lead]

Small businesses are struggling to stay afloat amid plunging consumption stemming from the coronavirus outbreak. Many merchants are personally conducting disinfection operations to ease consumers' anxiety and prevent the virus from spreading further.

[Pkg]

​This downtown area is deserted even during lunchtime. Some of the stores have been closed down. Most of the tables at this restaurant are unoccupied. Boxes of unsold beverages are stacked up in the corner. The owner can no longer afford to pay his staff their wages.

[Soundbite] (RESTAURANT OWNER) : "My sales are down by one-third compared to what I made before the virus outbreak. I have no money to pay my staff their salaries."

The situation is similar at traditional markets. This store is packed with brand-new winter clothes. None of them have been sold in the past three days. This has never happened since the store opened 30 years ago.

[Soundbite] (STORE OWNER) : "I never had zero sales since I opened this place 30 years ago. But these days I can't sell anything at all. I don't have money to pay the rent."

As things keep getting worse, the anxious vendors decided it's time to act. They purchased their own disinfection tools and protective suits to disinfect their facilities. The vendors make sure to decontaminate every inch multiple times. Some even deployed large disinfection vehicles, hoping this will help ease consumer anxiety.

[Soundbite] LEE SANG-IL(CHEONGJU YONGAM-DONG MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION) : "I hope customers will give us credit for our efforts to keep our neighborhood clean."

Small businesses in Korea are taking proactive measures to survive in difficult times caused by the coronavirus outbreak.