From Today, Restaurants and Cafes Open Until 10 PM... 'Entry Log' Usage Discontinued

New Social Distancing Adjustment Plan Applied for About 3 Weeks ... 'Vaccine Pass' Maintained
New Daily Cases Over 100,000 for Two Consecutive Days ... Home Treatment Patients Surpass 400,000

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] As the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to exceed 100,000 for two consecutive days, from the 19th, the operating hours of restaurants and cafes will be extended by one hour, until 10 PM. The use of entry logs such as QR codes, Safe Call, and handwritten registers, which were used to trace contacts of confirmed cases, will also be discontinued.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the newly announced social distancing adjustment plan, announced the previous day, will be applied for about three weeks from today until the 13th of next month. The headquarters explained, "In the situation where the COVID-19 outbreak is becoming increasingly severe due to the spread of the Omicron variant, the overall framework of the current distancing measures will be maintained, but minimal easing of quarantine measures has been decided considering the difficulties of the livelihood economy."

According to this adjustment, the closing time for restaurants, cafes, singing practice rooms, bathhouses, indoor sports facilities, and entertainment facilities (including pubs, karaoke bars, clubs, nightclubs, emotional pubs, hunting pubs, and colatecs/dance halls) will be extended by one hour from 9 PM to 10 PM. Lifelong vocational education academies, PC rooms, arcades/multi-rooms, casinos, party rooms, massage and therapy centers, movie theaters, and performance halls can continue to operate until 10 PM as before.

The maximum number of private gatherings remains at six people. The quarantine pass applied to 11 types of multi-use facilities such as restaurants, cafes, bathhouses, karaoke rooms, and indoor sports facilities will also be maintained. Unvaccinated individuals must still use restaurants and cafes alone as before.

From today, the obligation to create and keep entry logs will also be removed. Therefore, when visiting multi-use facilities such as restaurants and marts, it will no longer be necessary to verify or record entry using QR codes, Safe Call, or handwritten registers. However, the government has decided to continue supporting the 'QR code check-in' service to verify the vaccination status of facility managers and users at facilities where the quarantine pass is applied. The implementation date for the youth quarantine pass has been postponed by one month from March 1 to April 1.

The government stated that once the outbreak passes its "peak," the number of new confirmed cases begins to decline, and the medical system is stably maintained, social distancing measures will be gradually eased.

On the 18th, when the number of new COVID-19 cases exceeded 100,000 for the first time in history, citizens lined up to get tested at the screening clinic of Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

However, as of midnight on this day, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased again by 102,211, bringing the cumulative total to 1,858,009. Although the number of new cases decreased by 7,620 compared to the previous day (109,831), the number of critically ill patients increased to the 400s, and the number of deaths in one day reached 71.

The number of patients under home treatment also continues to rise, surpassing 400,000 at once. As of this day, the number of home-treated patients nationwide was 401,137, an increase of nearly 50,000 from the previous day (351,695).

The government expects the peak of the Omicron outbreak to occur between the end of this month and early next month, with the number of new confirmed cases reaching about 130,000 around the 23rd of this month and 180,000 by the 2nd of next month. Accordingly, the number of critically ill patients is also expected to exceed 1,000 around the 2nd of next month, and depending on the spread of the outbreak, it could reach up to 2,500. The government maintains that stable response is possible up to 2,000 critically ill patients, and if hospital beds are used more efficiently, they can handle up to 2,500 patients.

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