Prime Minister Jeong Declares "Special Measures Period" for the Seoul Metropolitan Area... Must Identify the Sparks of the 4th Wave

COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is presiding over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting on COVID-19 response held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 14th. March 14, 2021. Photo by Yonhap News

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on the 14th, "We will make every effort to reduce the daily confirmed cases to the 200s over the next two weeks," and declared, "The metropolitan area will be under a 'special measures period,' and non-metropolitan areas will be under a 'special period for compliance with quarantine rules.'" This is intended to take preemptive quarantine measures to block the 4th wave of COVID-19 in advance.

On the same day, Prime Minister Chung presided over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting at the Government Seoul Office and stated in his opening remarks, "In the metropolitan area, we will focus on inspecting multi-use facilities and workplaces with many foreign workers to find and extinguish any sparks of the 4th wave without leaving any behind."

Earlier, the government decided to extend the current social distancing level for two more weeks until the 28th. Prime Minister Chung expressed concern, saying, "The number of daily confirmed cases has not decreased but rather increased, threatening to reach 500 cases the day before. At the beginning of the 3rd wave in late November last year, it took less than 20 days for the confirmed cases to rise from over 500 to 1,000 per day."

He emphasized, "In the non-metropolitan areas where quarantine measures have been somewhat relaxed, we will conduct large-scale inspections focusing on facilities with high infection risks to actively block the spread of infection and check for any gaps in quarantine."

Prime Minister Chung stressed, "We need to reflect on whether we have become numb to the hundreds of confirmed cases per day. This is clearly a crisis situation that we must neither be complacent about nor become accustomed to."

Regarding the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Chung said, "The government plans to supplement the second-quarter vaccination plan to ensure that 12 million people complete their first dose in the first half of the year and will report on this tomorrow." He appealed for participation in vaccination, noting, "So far, adverse reaction cases reported are less than 1.5% of all vaccinated individuals, and some medical personnel who experienced adverse reactions have shared that it was bearable."

Meanwhile, concerning the April 7 by-elections, which are about 20 days away, Prime Minister Chung said, "This is not a small-scale election, with about one-quarter of the entire electorate of our country participating to elect local government heads and council members in a total of 21 places, including the Seoul Mayor and Busan Mayor." He urged, "In line with the severe COVID-19 situation, the government's preparations for a safe election must be even more meticulous."

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