The Seoul city government is encouraging foreigners in the city to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the proportion of foreign residents with COVID-19 grows.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, foreign residents accounted for 9.2 percent of all COVID-19 patients in Seoul in August, up from 6.3 percent in July. The city government said the increase could be due to language barriers preventing those who don‘t speak Korean from accessing information about the nationwide vaccination system.

“Foreign residents are already struggling as they fall short of information and language here, and they are in desperate need of clear information on measures to help prevent the spread of the virus,” said Kim Seon-soon, a senior official with the city government in charge of policies affecting women and families.

“We will strive to create a safe living environment for foreign residents by carrying out promotions in multiple languages in a consistent manner.”

To encourage more foreign residents to get vaccinated and to step up for COVID-19 tests when needed, Seoul said it was running campaigns in foreigner-heavy districts such as Guro-gu, Yongsan-gu and Geumcheon-gu. The city plans to run another campaign in Yeongdeungpo-gu on Wednesday.

Seoul has put up posters in foreign languages promoting COVID-19 tests at 4,475 sites and plans to post more at 29,664 locations throughout Seoul, including subway stations.

The city government also plans to create a multilingual pamphlet that will outline how to make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination through the official reservation website. The site only offers service in Korean at the moment.

Seoul is highlighting the fact that COVID-19 vaccination is available to all residents regardless of nationality. The Seoul Global Center webpage also offers information on COVID-19 policies in 13 languages.