Health clubs and fitness studios in South Korean capital city Seoul have been told to implement a new COVID-19 prevention measure and stop playing "fast music".

Amid rising cases of the coronavirus, the country's health ministry has issued a number of new restrictions on specific business operations.

One of these is that group classes should not feature music faster than 120 beats per minute.

This, the ministry claims, is down to the fact that "harsh breathing from intense activities can spatter a lot of saliva".

The measure is intended to prevent people "breathing too fast or splashing sweat on others".

A number of gym owners and fitness professionals have ridiculed the ruling in local and international media.

Speaking to Reuters, one gym owner – Kang Hyun-ku – pointed out that the rule is impossible to enforce.

"Many people use their own wearable devices these days – how do you control their playlists," he asked.

However, although the mechanism by which the control is being delivered – restricting music – is different, a similar restriction was imposed by the German government, with a ban on 'high aerosol' activities in gyms.

The control mechanism in Germany was to restrict the actual activities rather than the music, but the intended outcome was the same.

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