From March, Household Contacts of Confirmed Cases Exempt from Self-Quarantine... PCR Testing Recommended but Not Mandatory

Unvaccinated Cohabitants Also Exempt from 7-Day Quarantine
PCR Test within 3 Days, Rapid Antigen Test on Day 7 Recommended
However, Schools to Implement from March 14
Quarantine Release Certificates Also Discontinued

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Starting from the 1st of next month, cohabitants of confirmed cases will be switched to passive monitoring regardless of their vaccination status. Unvaccinated cohabitants will no longer need to quarantine for 7 days, and the two mandatory PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests that were required immediately after classification and before release from quarantine will be eliminated.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 25th an improvement plan for the quarantine system reflecting these changes. This measure aims to address delays in managing confirmed cases and their cohabitants amid the surge in confirmed cases.

Accordingly, from March 1st, the management method for cohabitants of confirmed cases will shift to passive monitoring regardless of vaccination status, with one PCR test recommended within 3 days and a rapid antigen test on the 7th day. The rapid antigen test can be conducted not only by medical personnel but also by self-testing using a self-diagnosis kit.

Currently, unvaccinated cohabitants of confirmed cases have been required to quarantine for 7 days, but this obligation will be removed. Additionally, the two PCR tests previously required at classification and before release from quarantine will no longer be mandatory.

The revised guidelines will be applied retroactively from March 1st to those currently managed under the existing guidelines. However, for schools, to support normal attendance under thorough infection control at the beginning of the semester, the new guidelines will be applied starting March 14th, after the adaptation period for the new semester.

Nonetheless, the government has requested voluntary compliance with the recommendations even though they are not mandatory. Cohabitants are asked to follow timely testing for 10 days from the confirmed case’s test date, stay at home for 3 days, refrain from going out during the subsequent period, and always wear a KF94 mask when going out.

Lee Ki-il, the first controller of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, explained, "This week, with confirmed cases reaching 170,000, the workload at public health centers increased, making same-day processing of confirmed cases quite difficult. The most challenging issue on the front lines was the quarantine of cohabiting family members. Currently, we judged that promptly notifying confirmed cases and properly managing their home treatment and hospital bed allocation is most important, which led to this decision."

Park Young-jun, head of epidemiological investigation and analysis at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "We recommend one PCR test within 3 days and one rapid antigen test on the 7th day. Although these are not mandatory, we continuously urge voluntary compliance."

Additionally, from March 1st, quarantine notifications for hospitalized and quarantined individuals will be sent via text message or SNS. Paper quarantine notification letters will be issued only upon request. In the future, linkage between related systems will be promoted to allow quarantined individuals to issue quarantine notification letters through an information system. Furthermore, the quarantine release confirmation letter, which was used as proof of quarantine and as a substitute for PCR negative confirmation for confirmed cases, will no longer be issued as a separate certificate.

The questionnaire for confirmed case investigations will also be simplified, and the simplified questionnaire will be applied to self-filled confirmed case investigation forms starting from the 28th. The simplified questionnaire consists of items such as symptoms, underlying diseases, PCR test date, membership in three types of infection-vulnerable facilities, and personal information of cohabitants.

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