WHO Lifts 'Public Health Emergency'... KCDC Director Says "Domestic COVID Crisis Level to Be Quickly Downgraded"

Step 1 Measures to Be Implemented Soon
Isolation Period for Confirmed Cases Reduced from 7 Days to 5 Days
Temporary Screening Clinics to Suspend Operations

With the World Health Organization (WHO) announcing the lifting of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), it is expected that South Korea will accelerate the complete lifting of quarantine measures domestically.

On the 6th, Ji Young-mi, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, stated, "After comprehensively reviewing the results of the recent WHO Emergency Committee, the domestic and international epidemic status, domestic quarantine and medical response capabilities, and major countries' policy trends, we plan to promptly finalize the plan to downgrade the domestic COVID-19 crisis level through expert consultation and a crisis evaluation meeting."

Jiyoungmi, Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. [Photo by Yonhap News]

Commissioner Ji attended the 15th WHO Emergency Committee held on the 4th as a member, participating in the decision to declare and lift the public health emergency. With the WHO accepting the Emergency Committee's decision, the international public health emergency, which had been maintained since its declaration on January 30, 2020, has officially ended after 3 years and 4 months.

The Emergency Committee assessed that although the global COVID-19 risk remains "high," positive factors for future response include ▲a decrease in weekly deaths, hospitalizations, and critically ill patients ▲a high level of population immunity through infection and vaccination ▲the consistent virulence level of circulating variants. Additionally, they recommended lifting the emergency status considering the low severity of variants, the decline in confirmed cases, the absence of unexpected risks despite ongoing global virus circulation, and increased resilience of healthcare systems enabling continued COVID-19 patient care and other medical services.

However, the WHO recommended that even after lifting the emergency status, effective standing recommendations be established and proposed, urging member states to continue activities for effective crisis response according to these recommendations. On the 5th, along with the lifting declaration, WHO presented temporary recommendations to member states in seven areas: ▲response capacity ▲vaccination programs ▲surveillance systems ▲medical response measures ▲risk communication ▲international travel measures ▲research and development.

Earlier, the Korean government announced in March, in its "COVID-19 Crisis Level Adjustment Roadmap," that upon WHO lifting the public health emergency, the domestic infectious disease crisis level would be downgraded from "serious" to "alert," implementing the first-stage action plan. Accordingly, this month, the isolation period for confirmed COVID-19 cases will be shortened from 7 days to 5 days, and temporary screening clinics operated by local governments will be closed. Designated COVID-19 hospital beds will also be reduced to regular beds.

Commissioner Ji emphasized, "Even though WHO has lifted the public health emergency, uncertainties such as the emergence of new variants still exist. South Korea has been a model country from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic by transparently disclosing statistics on confirmed cases and deaths, vaccination information, and sharing variant and genomic data internationally. Going forward, we will continue to share this high-quality data globally and play a leading role in public health research and development fields such as COVID-19 sequelae studies and wastewater epidemiology."

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