Fully Vaccinated Fans Attend Fall Baseball Games... Movie Theaters and Performance Venues Open Until Midnight (Comprehensive)

Stage 3 Local Restaurants and Cafes Extend Operating Hours Until Midnight
Simplified Private Gathering Rules... Gradual Return to Normal Life Starting Early Next Month

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[Asia Economy Reporters Seo So-jeong and Lee Jong-gil] The final adjustment to 'social distancing' before the phased recovery of daily life (With Corona) focused on increasing benefits for those who have completed vaccination. As the pace of the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has recently accelerated, the target achievement date for '70% of the population fully vaccinated' is expected to be brought forward to the end of next week, increasing the possibility of entering the phased recovery of daily life from the 1st of next month.

Baseball stadiums at 30%, wedding halls up to 250 people... Religious facilities' 99-person limit lifted

The social distancing adjustment plan announced by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 15th (applicable from the 18th to the 31st) centers on easing quarantine standards mainly for fully vaccinated individuals and expanding the number of private gatherings. In the metropolitan area, where Level 4 is applied, from the 18th, the number of private gatherings will increase to a maximum of 8 people including fully vaccinated individuals. Regardless of time, at all multi-use facilities, unvaccinated persons can gather up to 4 people, and including fully vaccinated persons, up to 8 people can gather. In Level 3 areas, the number of unvaccinated persons remains at 4 as before, but the gathering size expands up to 10 people when including fully vaccinated individuals.

Restrictions on business hours for some livelihood facilities will also be eased. In Level 4 areas, study rooms, study cafes, performance halls, and movie theaters will extend their business hours from the previous 10 p.m. to midnight, and restaurants and cafes in Level 3 areas can also operate until midnight. Sports game viewing and sports event hosting, which are currently virtually prohibited, will be allowed mainly for fully vaccinated individuals. For sports game viewing such as baseball and soccer, if the audience consists only of fully vaccinated individuals, indoor attendance can be up to 20% of capacity, and outdoor attendance up to 30% of capacity. Weddings in Levels 3 and 4 can accommodate up to 250 people (49 unvaccinated + 201 fully vaccinated), regardless of whether meals are served.

Religious facilities will expand worship attendance centered on fully vaccinated individuals but will prohibit small gatherings, meals, and overnight stays. In Level 4 areas, the 99-person limit has been lifted, allowing up to 10% of total capacity or up to 20% if composed of fully vaccinated individuals. The room operation restrictions applied to lodging facilities in Levels 3 and 4 (two-thirds capacity in Level 4, three-quarters in Level 3) have also been lifted. Shower room operation restrictions applied to indoor and outdoor sports facilities in Level 3 have been removed.

Lee Ki-il, the first controller of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, explained, "This adjustment plan will be applied during the last two weeks of October and serves as a stepping stone period leading to the phased recovery of daily life, used for preparation and pilot operation of the system transition," adding, "We have prepared the adjustment plan to support daily recovery centered on fully vaccinated individuals while preventing a rapid spread of infection due to excessive relaxation of quarantine vigilance."

Regarding the timing of the transition to phased daily recovery, Controller Lee said, "During this social distancing period, we will comprehensively evaluate the quarantine situation and decide on the timing of the transition to daily recovery after gathering opinions from the Daily Recovery Support Committee launched on the 13th," and added, "We strongly hope that the quarantine situation will be managed stably so that this adjustment will be the last."

He continued, "If the current vaccination trend continues, we expect to achieve '70% of the entire population fully vaccinated' around the end of next week," and added, "If vaccinations expand smoothly over the next two weeks and the quarantine situation is managed stably, a full transition to a new quarantine system will be possible from November."

Performing arts industry relieved as business hours allowed until midnight

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Cultural facilities such as movie theaters and performance halls welcome this adjustment plan. They see that allowing business hours until midnight will ease operational difficulties. Under the previous Level 4 social distancing, operations were limited until 10 p.m. Movie theaters had to start their last screening at 7:30 p.m., meaning they had to forgo screenings during the peak weekday hours of 8 to 9 p.m. This inevitably impacted revenue. Even during the peak season of July and August, the number of viewers was only 14,886,527. In the same period in 2019, the number of viewers was more than three times higher at 46,702,586.

Hwang Jae-hyun, PR team leader at CGV, said, "An environment has been created where office workers can watch movies at their leisure after work," and added, "The number of viewers is expected to increase by about 25%." Song Ha-gil, PR manager at Lotte Cinema, also expressed expectations, saying, "Flexible operations will be possible, and the number of viewers could increase by more than 20%."

The simplification of the complicated private gathering criteria is also a positive factor. Previously, family viewers had to provide proof such as family relation certificates, causing inconvenience. Groups of three or more friends could not gather, effectively losing the function of group viewing. The number of movies screened is also expected to increase. The burden of recovering production costs will decrease, allowing domestic medium- to large-scale films to be released consecutively during the winter peak season (December to January). The performing arts sector expects a similar recovery trend. Choi Goeun, PR team leader at Show Note, said, "Many performances scheduled at 8 p.m. on weekdays were moved earlier to 7 p.m., causing viewers to give up attending," and added, "With this measure, viewers will be able to visit performance venues more comfortably."

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