The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Theater Safety Center have jointly released a manual on theaters’ response to COVID-19 to effectively respond to virus infectious disease situations.

According to the Culture Ministry, performing art halls have been evaluated to be relatively safe facilities, as there have been no audience-to-audience infections or actor-to-audience infections since the spread of COVID-19 early last year. However, there has been a need for a manual for theaters to systematically respond to infectious disease concerns.

The manual includes studies on social distancing measures, along with advice from experts. The manual is divided into two parts: one for midsized and large theaters and the other for small theaters.

The manual explains how to evaluate the degree of risk depending on the characteristics of theaters or art troupes, measures for theaters to take in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, forms and references for theaters that can be used in epidemics and more.

The Culture Ministry will distribute the guidelines to theaters and host an online presentation for more detailed explanations. It also plans to share the guidelines at an international symposium attended by stage experts from the US, UK, Japan and more.

The manual is available at the websites of the Culture Ministry and the Theater Safety Center.