Authorities Say "Quarantine Pass More Effective Than Social Distancing for Controlling Spread... Review of Social Distancing Adjustments This Week" (Update)

On the 10th, citizens at a large supermarket in Seoul checked the validity of their quarantine passes to enter, following the addition of large-scale stores such as shopping malls, marts, department stores, agricultural and marine products distribution centers, and bookstores with an area of 3,000㎡ or more to the mandatory quarantine pass application targets. The one-week grace period will be in effect until the 16th, and from the 17th, individuals will be fined 100,000 KRW per violation. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government has stated that expanding the vaccination certificate and negative test confirmation system (quarantine pass) is more effective than social distancing in controlling the scale of the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, as the recent COVID-19 outbreak has shifted to a declining trend, the government plans to consider easing social distancing measures this week, such as lifting the private gathering limit of 4 people and allowing restaurants and cafes to operate until 9 PM.

On the 10th, Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said at a back briefing, "If the COVID-19 outbreak is not controlled under the limited medical system, medical response capacity will be paralyzed, leading to a sharp increase in severe cases and deaths, and even non-COVID-19 medical treatments will be disrupted." He pointed to the quarantine pass as a key measure to control the outbreak scale.

Son said, "While social distancing itself is effective, it causes significant damage to self-employed and small business owners, greatly impacting the livelihood economy." He added, "There are 1.04 million businesses nationwide that have their operating hours restricted to between 9 PM and 10 PM, which has a vast impact and increases national fiscal expenditure."

He repeatedly emphasized that the purpose of the quarantine pass is not to increase vaccination rates. Son explained, "Although there is an indirect effect of increased vaccination rates because daily life becomes inconvenient through the quarantine pass, the main purpose is not that, but to reduce the overall outbreak scale and secure medical system capacity."

Son stated, "The quarantine pass was expanded from the original five types of entertainment facilities to 16 types including restaurants and cafes, and starting today, it also applies to department stores and marts." He judged, "If the quarantine effect appears after 1 to 2 weeks, a pattern of decreasing confirmed cases has been observed since mid-December, and this effect has continued, which I believe shows the dominance of the quarantine pass expansion effect."

He said, "I think the impact of social distancing became full-scale from January 2 to 8," adding, "This is a phase where the expansion of the quarantine pass, the increase in the third vaccination rate among the elderly, and the strengthening of social distancing are overlapping and producing effects."

He also mentioned that because the quarantine pass effectively reduces social contact through infectious disease control, some restrictions on basic rights are inevitable. Son said, "In Korea, even eating alone in restaurants and cafes is allowed, and Korea is the only country that recognizes this," adding, "Other countries apply strong vaccine passes to restaurants and similar places."

The government plans to consider easing social distancing measures this week, including lifting the private gathering limit of 4 people and allowing restaurants and cafes to operate until 9 PM.

Son said, "At the Daily Recovery Support Committee meeting held this Wednesday, there will be various discussions on measures to respond to the Omicron variant, adjustments to social distancing and the quarantine pass, and Lunar New Year quarantine measures." He added, "Considering the inconvenience and basic rights of the entire population, as well as the damage to the livelihood economy including self-employed and small business owners, social distancing measures such as operating hour restrictions and private gathering limits cause much greater damage than quarantine pass measures, so discussions on social distancing measures will proceed."

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