The government has launched a nationwide inspection of manufacturing workplaces with foreign employees to check if they are properly following the anti-virus guidelines amid a series of cluster infections reported at such facilities, officials said Sunday.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Employment and Labor began the inspection on some 12,000 workplaces of manufacturing businesses that employ five or more foreigners and operate a dormitory for the workers, according to health authorities.

Of them, 1,600 places that have been identified as high-risk facilities will undergo tests to check for the presence of COVID-19. If the virus is found, workers at the facility will also have to be tested, they said.

The inspection will focus on checking if efforts are made to prevent the spread of the virus, such as wearing face masks, regularly ventilating the air and restricting non-residents' entry to the dormitories.

Workplaces that are found to be poorly carrying out such health protection measures will be referred to local governments for coronavirus tests, they said.

"Massive cluster infections can occur any time in crowded, airtight rooms," a health official said. "The only way to prevent that is strictly following the health protection guidelines."

South Korea reported 416 new virus cases on Sunday, raising the total caseload to 92,471. (Yonhap)