Government Hesitates to Raise Social Distancing to 'Highest Level'... Prime Minister Kim Says "Discussing at Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Sunday"

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum is conducting a '2m distancing' campaign on the street near Hongik University in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 7th. (Photo by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum Facebook)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on the 8th regarding the timing of raising social distancing measures, "The government has stated that it will observe the situation at least until this weekend," adding, "It seems that this will be discussed at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting on Sunday (the 11th)." As the daily number of new COVID-19 cases approaches the highest ever recorded, experts are suggesting that the social distancing level should be raised, but the government appears to want to observe the situation a bit longer.

In an interview with MBC radio program 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the morning of the same day, Prime Minister Kim said, "We need to observe the trend (of confirmed cases) for a few more days." On the 6th, the number of new COVID-19 cases reached 1,212, approaching the record high of 1,240 cases on December 24, 2020, and the number of cases reported the day before is expected to surpass that. Among experts, there is a judgment that the fourth wave has already begun, and there are calls to raise the social distancing level as soon as possible.

However, Prime Minister Kim showed a cautious stance, saying, "We cannot definitively say that the fourth wave has started," and "Experts are advising the government on the worst-case scenarios, but the government cannot focus solely on that." He added, "At present, the reality is that the response is always somewhat delayed compared to the virus," and "So far, our people have overcome this by accelerating personal quarantine and vaccination, and we have no choice but to continue this approach now."

Regarding criticism that the government's plan to apply the new social distancing scheme, which relaxed measures from July, was premature, he said, "There have been strong appeals from various places about how difficult daily life is for the public and the hardships faced by self-employed people," adding, "So we were tentatively considering moving to the next stage step by step, but now we are being attacked by the virus again."

Prime Minister Kim pointed to 'increased activity' as the main cause of the recent surge in confirmed cases. He said, "There is a direct correlation between increased activity and the spread of COVID-19," and "University students have started their summer vacation, and international students are coming in from abroad, so young people's activity levels have increased during the summer." In response to criticism that vaccination among the active young population should have been expedited, he countered, "From the perspective of the quarantine authorities, the priority of the nation is to protect the high-risk groups who are most vulnerable to severe illness or death when infected with the virus (the elderly)."

The problem is that vaccine supply is insufficient this month. Prime Minister Kim stated, "We have prepared 10 million doses in July, and 70 million doses will be ready in August and September," and "The doses obtained through the vaccine swap with Israel will be allocated first to the metropolitan area." However, he admitted, "There are no concrete plans yet for the rest of the vaccine supply (such as vaccine swaps)," and "Even if there are, a few hundred thousand doses are still far too few for the current situation."

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