More than 30-thousand employees at South Korean state-run and public agencies worked from home in the first quarter of the year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to state portal All Public Information in One(ALIO) on Thursday, a total of 31-thousand-148 workers at 363 state firms and other public institutions telecommuted in the January-March period.

The figure is about 22 times the full-year tally of some 14-hundred for last year. 

As those institutions have a combined workforce of nearly 418-thousand, one out of 13 public workers worked from home in the first quarter, compared to one out of 292 last year.

In addition, about 70 percent, or 255 of the state-run institutions, reported one or more telecommuters during the three-month period, more than nine times the number for all of 2019.