Government Reviews "Step-by-Step Return to Daily Life" Plan... Must Be Based on Stabilized Outbreak

"There Will Be No Sudden Major Relaxation or Disappearance of the Quarantine System"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The government has announced that it will consider transitioning the quarantine system to 'With Corona,' which means coexistence with COVID-19, but emphasized that stabilizing the current wave of infections must be a prerequisite for this.

On the 6th, Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said at a COVID-19 briefing, "Within the government, there is an effort to avoid using the term 'With Corona' as much as possible," adding, "This term is being interpreted as meaning that confirmed cases are not a concern and social distancing is eliminated, which causes the quarantine vigilance to drop excessively."

He continued, "When discussing internally, we refer to it as the 'Step-by-step Daily Recovery Plan' to indicate a gradual approach that prevents sudden relaxation of quarantine measures."

The authorities explained that stabilizing the scale of the outbreak during the month of September is necessary for transitioning the quarantine system. Son said, "At least during September, the current scale of the outbreak must stabilize as a prerequisite," and pointed out, "Currently, hospital bed occupancy rates are at 60-70%, so if public opinion pushes for easing quarantine measures, the scale of the outbreak could immediately increase, leading directly to problems such as inadequate medical system response." He emphasized, "Especially in the 수도권 (Sudogwon, Seoul Metropolitan Area), the trend is that infections are not decreasing but increasing, so it is important to share a sense of crisis that infection can occur at any time in the 수도권."

Son explained, "Step-by-step daily recovery should be carried out gradually and progressively as vaccination rates increase and death and severe case rates decrease," adding, "There will be no sudden, large-scale easing or complete removal of social distancing measures."

He also mentioned the need for in-depth discussions by citing overseas cases such as the UK and Singapore, which have already declared transitions to 'With Corona.' Son said, "The UK has significantly eased its quarantine system but still reports 20,000 to 30,000 confirmed cases daily and about 100 deaths per day. If this were applied to our country, it would be more than ten times the current death toll, which is unacceptable and undesirable for us," adding, "So far, no country has managed to ease quarantine measures to a level similar to normal daily life while maintaining a system to manage deaths." He added, "(The Step-by-step Daily Recovery Plan) is a very difficult task and will require considerable discussion and careful consideration going forward."

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