COVID-19 Living Support Fund Revised from Household Members to Number of Hospitalized and Isolated Individuals

Suspension of Additional Support Funds for Fully Vaccinated Home Treatment Patients
Adjustment of Daily Paid Leave Cost Cap to 73,000 Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] From now on, the living support allowance provided to COVID-19 hospitalized and quarantined individuals will be calculated based on the actual number of hospitalized or quarantined persons, not the number of household members. The additional support payment previously given to fully vaccinated patients undergoing home treatment will be discontinued, and the daily support cap for paid leave expenses will be adjusted to 73,000 KRW.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Task Force announced on the 14th that, in accordance with the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, the criteria for living support allowances and paid leave expense support for hospitalized and quarantined individuals will be revised as such. The revised criteria will be applied from this day forward.

This measure follows the establishment of a home treatment system in response to the Omicron variant, which has relaxed quarantine standards for family members living with confirmed cases. Since the 9th, passive monitoring has been applied to fully vaccinated family members living with confirmed cases.

Accordingly, living support allowances will be calculated and provided based on the actual number of hospitalized or quarantined individuals. Previously, support payments were calculated based on the total number of household members regardless of quarantine status. According to the task force, this revision reduces administrative burden related to calculations, enabling faster support, and limits exclusion criteria to the individual quarantined person, thereby improving the inconvenience where the entire household could not receive support due to other family members.

Additionally, the additional support payment for fully vaccinated home treatment patients has been discontinued and unified into the living support allowance. Until now, an additional daily support of 22,000 to 48,000 KRW was provided based on the number of household members of fully vaccinated home treatment patients.

Support for paid leave expenses provided to employers granting paid leave to quarantined workers has also been partially adjusted. Support based on individual workers' daily wages will remain as is, but the daily support cap will be adjusted from 130,000 KRW to 73,000 KRW, considering balance with the living support allowance. By calculating support at the minimum wage level, it aims to prevent the reduction in paid leave usage among low-wage workers.

The revised criteria for living support allowances and paid leave expense support will apply to those who receive hospitalization or quarantine notifications from the 14th onward.

Jung Eun-kyung, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, stated, "With this revision, clearer support procedures and exclusion criteria will reduce administrative burdens on local governments, enabling faster support for the public."

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