"Will This Be the Last Social Distancing?" ... 'Gatherings of Up to 10 People and Until Midnight' Allowed for the Next 2 Weeks

Clear Decline in Confirmed Cases... Below 300,000 After Four Days
Attempting 'Return to Normal Life' Within Half a Day of Full Lift

On the 21st, when the government's new 'social distancing' measures were implemented, a merchant at a restaurant in Seoul is writing a notice stating 'Gatherings of up to 8 people allowed.' Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The government increased both the allowed number of private gatherings and the operating hours of multi-use facilities in the new social distancing measures effective from the 4th, based on the assessment that the Omicron wave, which had been spreading for over two months, has now passed its peak and is clearly on a decline. However, considering that the highly transmissible stealth Omicron (BA.2) has become the dominant strain and that the number of severe COVID-19 cases is reaching record highs and showing an upward trend, the extent of easing was decided to be a ‘slight adjustment’ once again.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 1st, although the daily number of new COVID-19 cases has continued to exceed 300,000 on average for two weeks after surpassing 620,000 on the 17th, the scale of the spread is gradually decreasing. The number of new confirmed cases announced at midnight that day was 280,273, which is 40,470 fewer than the previous day (320,743), falling below 300,000 again for the first time in four days since the 28th of last month (187,182). This is 59,201 fewer than a week ago on the 25th of last month (339,474) and 126,604 fewer than two weeks ago on the 18th of last month (406,877).

The government has been reviewing the easing of social distancing measures, judging that the Omicron wave, which began spreading in early January, passed its peak after 11 weeks and has been gradually declining since the end of March.

Since the spread of COVID-19, social distancing has been in place since May 2020, lasting for nearly two years. On November 1st last year, the government transitioned the quarantine system to ‘gradual recovery of daily life’ and eased measures, judging that vaccination effects would reduce severe cases and fatality rates. However, the subsequent Delta variant wave forced the government to tighten restrictions again, and with a surge in confirmed and severe cases raising concerns about the collapse of the healthcare system, social distancing was reinstated on December 18th last year. The strengthened measures at the beginning of this year, which limited private gatherings to 4 people and operating hours to 9 p.m., were gradually adjusted through stages of ‘6 people until 9 p.m. → 6 people until 10 p.m. → 6 people until 11 p.m. → 8 people until 11 p.m.’ and eventually eased to ‘10 people until midnight.’

Accordingly, the upcoming social distancing adjustment scheduled in two weeks is highly likely to see these measures fully lifted. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum also stated that if the epidemic situation is stably managed, social distancing will be ‘boldly’ restructured at the next adjustment. This implies that social distancing will no longer be extended and that this could be the ‘final social distancing.’ If social distancing is lifted as planned on the 18th, it will mark an attempt to return to ‘normal life’ after about half a year.

Public health and medical experts, while accepting the easing measures considering the shared pain of small business owners and self-employed individuals and the trend of the epidemic spread, have repeatedly emphasized the need to establish a more thorough and sufficient medical response system to minimize harm to high-risk groups such as severe patients.

Professor Jeong Ki-seok of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital said, “Extending operating hours by one hour and increasing the number of people allowed in gatherings by two will not have a significant impact on quarantine,” adding, “However, it is important to observe for two weeks until full lifting and to build a medical system that can reduce severe cases and deaths.” Professor Eom Jung-sik of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Gachon University Gil Medical Center advised, “Although the increase in confirmed cases has peaked, deaths from COVID-19 may increase further in April and May,” and “Since there is a possibility of new variants emerging domestically or internationally other than stealth Omicron, a strong surveillance system must also be maintained.”

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