Social Distancing Levels Maintained... Authorities Say "Considering Both Quarantine and Medical Response Capacity"

"Efforts to Enhance Compliance at Current Social Distancing Levels"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The government has expressed its position to maintain the current level of social distancing measures and focus on enhancing compliance.

On the 27th, Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) quarantine team, stated at the COVID-19 briefing, "The social distancing measures applied until this Sunday will be maintained at the current level while implementing ways to increase compliance and strengthen strict management on the ground," adding, "The level of social distancing is considered together with the quarantine situation and the capacity of medical response."

Regarding concerns that the social distancing level should be raised due to the increasing number of patients, he assessed, "The current situation is judged as a gradual increase, and the steep rise is being suppressed," and added, "On the other hand, it is important not only to look at the number of patients but also the composition of patients."

Previously, the authorities repeatedly expressed a passive stance on raising social distancing levels, citing that there is still capacity to handle the number of patients in medical response and that severe cases are manageable.

Yoon said, "There may be various questions about whether raising social distancing is desirable," and added, "If the COVID-19 outbreak cannot be resolved in the short term, it is a global trend to respond by considering social acceptability and quarantine response capacity together."

Regarding the application of the new social distancing reform plan, he said, "Since efforts must be concentrated not only on quarantine but also on vaccination, discussions on the reform plan should be conducted in a way that does not cause confusion," and added, "However, rather than applying the reform plan uniformly, some pilot applications are being carried out in areas such as counties with fewer patients." The government has been piloting the new social distancing reform plan in 12 counties of Gyeongbuk for one week starting from the 26th.

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