South Korea's central bank last Friday said it is quarantining banknotes for two weeks to remove any traces of coronavirus and even burning some as part of efforts to stem the outbreak.
Apart from putting away banknotes to remove traces of coronavirus, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said it is also putting currency notes through a high-heat «laundering» process before releasing them for circulation.
«For all cash coming to the central bank from local banks, the Bank of Korea will keep it in a safe for two weeks, given that the virus usually dies out after nine days,» said a BOK official, who was quoted in «Reuters».
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Standard procedures for incinerating dirty notes collected throughout the country have been tightened in order to combat the outbreak in the country, the official added. These procedures include heating notes to 150 degrees Celsius for two to three seconds, and then keeping them at 42 degrees after packaging, which effectively disinfects the cash, the bank said.
Last month, China's financial authorities also announced plans to disinfect their cash and urged banks to issue new notes.
