'Restaurants and Cafes' Also Lift Quarantine Pass... Next Month's Youth Application Also Canceled

On the 10th, a notice informing the mandatory application of the quarantine pass was installed at the entrance of the Lotte Department Store main branch 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@

The government will temporarily suspend the vaccination certificate and negative test confirmation system (quarantine pass) at multi-use facilities such as restaurants and cafes starting from the 1st of next month. This comes just four months after the quarantine pass system was first introduced in November last year when the quarantine system was restructured to 'gradual daily recovery (With Corona)'.

Jeon Hae-cheol, the 2nd Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety), stated in the morning remarks on the 28th, "Considering the characteristics of Omicron, the reorganization of the quarantine system, and issues of fairness by age and region, we will temporarily suspend the application of the quarantine pass to all 11 types of multi-use facilities including restaurants and cafes starting tomorrow."

Accordingly, the entry restrictions for unvaccinated individuals will be lifted for all 11 types of facilities that had been subject to the quarantine pass, including △entertainment facilities △indoor sports facilities △karaoke rooms △bathhouses △horse racing, bicycle racing, motorboat racing, casinos △PC rooms △restaurants and cafes △party rooms △multi-rooms △massage parlors and massage businesses △(indoor) sports stadiums (spectator venues).

The youth quarantine pass, which was originally scheduled to be applied from April 1st, will also be temporarily suspended.

The government cited that the quarantine pass was a measure based on the Delta variant outbreak situation last year as the reason for this decision. It also reflected concerns that the rapid increase in confirmed cases has hindered the smooth operation of quarantine work at public health centers. Recently, lawsuits regarding the quarantine pass have been filed across the country, and some rulings have suspended the effectiveness of certain quarantine passes, causing confusion in policy by region and age group, which is also interpreted as a reason for lifting the quarantine pass.

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. With the recent surge in confirmed cases, public health centers, which have invested 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."

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