Maintaining 'Under 50 New COVID-19 Cases per Day,' Preparing to Shift to Daily Life Quarantine

Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters: "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Social Distancing in the Latter Half of the Prohibition Period and Discussing the Transition to Daily Quarantine"

On the 10th, the early voting for the 21st National Assembly election began, and voters visited the early voting stations set up at Gahoe-dong Community Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and Seoul Station in Yongsan-gu to cast their votes. Amid the COVID-19 situation, this election showed different scenes from previous elections, as voters practiced social distancing by maintaining space between each other, and before entering the polling stations, underwent temperature checks, hand sanitization, and wore masks. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@ and Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Twenty-five new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were identified domestically on the 13th. The number of new cases has remained around 30 for five consecutive days since the 9th, maintaining the quarantine authorities' 'daily quarantine' goal of 'fewer than 50 cases per day.' However, social distancing was somewhat relaxed over the past weekend due to Easter and other factors, leading to an expected increase in person-to-person contact in various places. Therefore, the quarantine authorities remain vigilant. With increased movement expected on election day as well, this week is anticipated to be crucial in gauging the extent to which social quarantine measures will be maintained across society.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of midnight on the day, there were 25 new cases: 16 imported cases and 9 domestic transmissions. By region, 12 cases were reported in the Seoul metropolitan area, 7 in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and the remaining 6 were identified during quarantine procedures. Domestic transmissions have remained in single digits for two consecutive days. The total number of confirmed cases in the country has risen to 10,537. With 79 patients released from isolation, the number of patients currently isolated and receiving treatment has decreased to 2,873.

The quarantine authorities have designated this week as the period for intensive social distancing. Their strategy is to minimize contact by encouraging telecommuting in workplaces and delaying school openings to prevent the spread of the infectious disease. They believe that if daily new cases remain below 50 and the proportion of cases with unclear infection routes stays under 5%, the burden on medical staff will not be significant.

Subsequently, the plan is to naturally transition to daily quarantine emphasizing personal hygiene rules and maintain control at a manageable level. As of the previous day, the number of cases with unclear infection routes was 30, about 3.2%, and the daily average of new cases over the past week has been around 36, meeting one of the arithmetic targets set by the authorities. The preparation for transitioning to daily quarantine, including gathering public opinions on everyday quarantine measures, is based on maintaining this trend.

The critical period will be the latter half of this week. If exposure to infection sources occurred over the past weekend, symptoms would appear after a few days, followed by confirmation of infection. For the election scheduled on the 15th, quarantine guidelines emphasize separating the movements of self-isolated voters from general voters as much as possible, allowing self-isolated voters to vote after 6 p.m. on the day when regular voting hours end.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.