Variants Increase but Confirmed Cases Decrease... 'Quarantine Obligation Lift' at a Crossroads

Decision to Lift Isolation Obligation Approaches in 2 Weeks
Health Authorities and Expert TF Begin Discussing Criteria

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Two COVID-19 quarantine-related indicators are showing contrasting trends two weeks after the decision to extend the isolation requirement for confirmed cases. Attention is focused on which indicator the health authorities will prioritize in their reevaluation criteria.

Earlier, on the 20th of last month, the government decided to extend the isolation requirement for COVID-19 confirmed cases by an additional four weeks. At that time, the health authorities stated that the decision was made considering the slowdown in the decline of confirmed cases and the detection of highly transmissible new variants domestically.

Two weeks later, at the current intermediate stage of discussions on lifting the isolation requirement, the trend of confirmed cases has returned to a stable decline. The incidence rate of COVID-19 confirmed cases per 100,000 population decreased by about 20 cases compared to the previous week in the second week of last month, but since then, it has dropped by more than 100 cases each week, increasing the rate of decline. Ko Jae-young, spokesperson for the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "The number of confirmed and critically ill patients is maintaining a stable downward trend, but the number of deaths and the reproduction number of infections are showing a slowdown in their decrease."

On the other hand, the number of newly detected variants in the country has more than tripled. So far, a total of 74 cases have been confirmed: 60 cases of BA.2.12.1, 6 cases of BA.4, and 8 cases of BA.5. At the time of the announcement to extend the isolation requirement last month, the confirmed imported variants were 22 cases in total: 19 cases of BA.2.12.1, 1 case of BA.4, and 2 cases of BA.5. This represents an increase of 52 cases in two weeks.

The government has formed a task force of 5 to 6 COVID-19 experts and started discussions from the first week of this month to establish criteria for lifting the isolation requirement. Considering that a decision must be made by the 20th of this month, it is expected that the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting around the 15th or 17th will announce whether the isolation requirement will be lifted.

Experts have assessed that the impact of the variants introduced so far is not significant. Baek Soon-young, emeritus professor at the Catholic University Medical School, said, "Even though the number of variant cases has increased compared to two weeks ago, the absolute number is small, and there is no situation of community spread," adding, "The scale of confirmed cases is not very different from the pre-Omicron level, but compared to then, the level of immunity in the population has increased due to vaccination and natural immunity, so lifting the isolation requirement should not pose major problems."

However, there are also opinions that legal measures or social consensus are necessary before lifting the isolation requirement. Chun Eun-mi, professor of respiratory medicine at Ewha Mokdong Hospital, said, "Just as guidelines are established for tuberculosis and influenza to take sick leave and rest at home during the infectious period, similar guidelines should be prepared before lifting the isolation requirement," adding, "In such cases, confirmed patients who need to attend urgent work can comply with quarantine rules while managing their tasks." Professor Baek also emphasized, "Even if the isolation requirement changes to a recommendation, there should be social agreements such as allowing paid leave when diagnosed with COVID-19 and not penalizing school absences."

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