Temporary Suspension of Vaccine Pass for Restaurants, Cafes, and Other Multi-Use Facilities Starting March 1 (Comprehensive)

Temporary Suspension of Vaccine Pass Enforcement for Restaurants, Cafes, Indoor Sports Facilities, and Bathhouses
Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters: "Focusing More on Managing High-Risk Confirmed Cases Due to Rapid Increase in Cases"
Deployment of Public Officials and Military Personnel to Health Centers, Rapid Antigen Test Kits Supply of 210 Million Units in March

On the 10th, a notice informing the mandatory application of the quarantine pass was installed at the entrance of the main branch of Lotte Department Store in Jung-gu, Seoul. From this day, 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 are added to the mandatory application targets of the quarantine pass (vaccination certificate and negative test confirmation system). Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The government has decided to suspend the application of the quarantine pass at multi-use facilities such as restaurants and cafes starting March 1, taking into account fairness by age and region.

On the 28th, at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting, Jeon Hae-cheol, the 2nd Vice Minister (Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety), stated, "Considering the characteristics of Omicron and the reorganization of the quarantine system, the application of the quarantine pass for all 11 types of multi-use facilities, including restaurants and cafes, will be temporarily suspended starting tomorrow."

Minister Jeon said, "The quarantine pass system was introduced and operated to support the daily recovery of vaccinated individuals and protect the unvaccinated during the Delta variant outbreak, which had a high fatality rate," adding, "With the recent surge in confirmed cases, health centers, which have been investing significant manpower and resources in issuing negative test certificates for the quarantine pass, will be able to focus more on managing high-risk confirmed cases due to this measure."

Earlier, in Daegu, the court accepted a suspension request filed by about 300 citizens against the Daegu city government on the 23rd, resulting in the suspension of the quarantine pass application for multi-use facilities such as restaurants and cafes for those under 60 years old.

Additionally, courts in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daejeon, and Busan have consecutively accepted injunction decisions demanding the suspension of the quarantine pass application for adolescents. The government had already suspended the mandatory entry log measures for contact tracing, such as QR codes, safe calls, and handwritten logs, since the 19th.

As the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters reported that health center operations were paralyzed due to the recent surge in confirmed cases reaching 170,000, additional administrative personnel will be deployed, and the method of self-quarantine notification will be improved.

Minister Jeon said, "To strengthen the response capacity against Omicron, starting from the 28th, 3,000 government officials from 42 central ministries will be dispatched to 258 health centers, and 1,000 military personnel will be sequentially deployed by the end of this weekend."

He added, "We will convert the existing document-type self-quarantine notifications to text messages and social network services (SNS), and prepare to make them available for issuance on the Government24 website."

Rapid antigen test kits will be supplied in quantities sufficient for 210 million people within this month. To accommodate the new school semester, kits will also be distributed so that children and students can conduct self-tests twice a week before attending school.

Minister Jeon said, "The demand for rapid antigen test kits is steadily increasing, and the supply planned for March is 210 million units, so there will be no overall supply issues," adding, "Starting this week, test kits necessary for twice-weekly testing will be distributed free of charge to children, students, and vulnerable groups, and sufficient quantities will be supplied to the private sector, including pharmacies and convenience stores."

The number of confirmed cases has been doubling every week since the third week of January, a phenomenon known as 'doubling.' As of the 23rd, the number of new confirmed cases was 171,270, double the 90,279 cases recorded on the 16th. However, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters judges that key quarantine indicators remain stable. The intensive care unit bed occupancy rate was 44.0% as of the 26th, an increase of 13.0 percentage points compared to 31.0% the previous week.

Minister Jeon stated, "Compared to the peak period of the Delta variant at the end of last year, the average daily number of confirmed cases has increased more than 17 times, but key quarantine indicators such as the number of severe and fatal cases and bed occupancy rates are being managed relatively stably."

He continued, "If the stable situation of key quarantine indicators such as Omicron fatality rate, severity rate, and bed occupancy rate is maintained, we will gather public opinions and prepare a new social distancing adjustment plan."

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