Government "Discussing Strengthening Quarantine Measures for Religious Facilities... No Possibility of Postponing Youth Quarantine Pass" (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government is actively discussing measures to strengthen quarantine management for religious facilities as a large number of COVID-19 cases have recently occurred linked to these facilities.

Starting from the 6th, the government will apply the vaccination certificate and negative test confirmation system (quarantine pass) to most multi-use facilities, including restaurants, cafes, academies, PC rooms, and movie theaters. However, exceptions have been made for facilities such as wedding halls, funeral halls, amusement facilities (amusement parks, water parks), arcades, shops, marts, department stores, outdoor sports stadiums (spectator areas), outdoor sports facilities, lodging facilities, kids cafes, first birthday parties, exhibitions and fairs, door-to-door sales promotion centers, and religious facilities, which has sparked some controversy over fairness.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, stated in a back briefing that "Religious facilities were excluded from the quarantine pass application because it is difficult to control the flow of people coming and going through open entrances."

He also explained, "Religious facilities do not have a fixed service purchase method and people enter for various purposes, making it difficult to apply the quarantine pass. Similarly, it is also challenging to fully apply the quarantine pass to department stores and markets."

However, as the scale of infections through religious facilities continues to increase, the government is reviewing measures to strengthen quarantine. Son said, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is currently discussing strengthening quarantine measures for religious facilities. We are working on measures to enhance management and prevent cluster infections in religious facilities and will prepare improvement plans in consultation with religious groups."

With the decision to apply the youth quarantine pass starting February next year, controversy is intensifying among parents. This is because the quarantine pass will be widely expanded to multi-use facilities frequently used by youth, such as PC rooms, study rooms and study cafes, libraries, and academies, which were previously exempt from the quarantine pass.

The government plans to adjust the exemption range for the quarantine pass from the current under 18 to under 11 years old to suppress youth infections and will apply the quarantine pass to those aged 12 to 18 starting February next year. To be subject to the quarantine pass from February 1st next year, the first vaccination must begin this month.

When asked about the possibility of postponing the youth quarantine pass application due to various objections, Son responded, "There is an eight-week grace period until the youth quarantine pass application date. With this amount of time, we do not see the need to delay the February 1st implementation date." He added, "Currently, there are no discussions with the Ministry of Education or others about postponing the youth quarantine pass implementation."

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