Allowing Gatherings of 8 People?... Social Distancing Revision Plan to Be Announced on the 20th (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The final version of the new social distancing system, which will be introduced early next month, will be announced on the 20th.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated at the COVID-19 briefing on the 15th, "We plan to finalize and disclose the details of the social distancing reform plan this Sunday (the 20th)."

Son said, "We had a discussion about the reform plan at today's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting," adding, "We plan to organize and announce several points raised during the discussion."

The government is preparing to introduce a social distancing reform plan that is more relaxed than the current system. The draft reform plan previously announced by the government simplifies the current five-step system (levels 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3) into four levels. Restrictions on operating hours for multi-use facilities will also be minimized.

Under the reform plan, the metropolitan area, currently at level 2, is expected to remain at level 2. With the new system, even at the same level 2, restaurants, cafes, singing rooms, party rooms, indoor sports facilities, and entertainment venues in the metropolitan area will be allowed to operate until midnight. Other multi-use facilities will no longer have operating hour restrictions. Currently, restaurants and cafes are only permitted to operate until 10 p.m.

Additionally, the limit on private gatherings will be relaxed from the current "fewer than 5 people" to "fewer than 9 people," allowing gatherings of up to 8 people.

Earlier, the government mentioned the possibility of applying the new social distancing system from June 5, setting conditions such as over 13 million first-dose vaccinations and maintaining an average daily confirmed case count below 1,000 until June. These targets are expected to be smoothly achieved. As of the day before, the cumulative number of first-dose vaccinations exceeded 12.56 million, and surpassing 13 million within the day is highly likely.

The daily confirmed cases stood at 374, marking the second consecutive day in the 300s following the previous day. Although this reflects the weekend effect, there is also growing hope that concerns over the fourth wave of the pandemic may have eased somewhat. If the current trend continues, the existing social distancing measures (level 2 in the metropolitan area and level 1.5 in non-metropolitan areas) will end on July 4, and the new social distancing system will be implemented.

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