Jeong Gi-seok: "Now is the time to implement the daily recovery plan based on COVID-19 response experience"

Jeong Gi-seok, Chair of the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) held a plenary meeting on the afternoon of the 8th to discuss the downgrade of the COVID-19 crisis level and the transition of quarantine measures.

In his opening remarks at the 17th meeting, Jeong Gi-seok, Chair of the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee, stated, “Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ (PHEIC) due to the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it has been 3 years and 4 months until the announcement of the end of the crisis situation.” He added, “This declaration of termination comprehensively considers the decline in COVID-19 cases, the establishment of a stable response system, and a high level of population immunity. It can be seen that the possibility of COVID-19 affecting the domestic quarantine situation has significantly decreased.”

He further added, “Now is the time to transition to managing COVID-19 within the routine healthcare system based on the experience gained so far and to implement plans to approach a full return to normal life.” However, Chair Jeong emphasized, “We must still maintain attention to infectious diseases and prepare thoroughly,” and stressed, “The government should prioritize protecting high-risk groups and infection-vulnerable populations, encourage people to rest when sick, and ensure that diagnosis and treatment are accessible anywhere, efficiently organize systems and institutions across all sectors, and continuously improve the national support system.”

Following the Advisory Committee meeting, the government plans to hold a crisis evaluation meeting chaired by the Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency to review the implementation of Phase 1 of the recovery roadmap. According to the three-phase roadmap, Phase 1 involves adjusting the COVID-19 crisis level from ‘Severe’ to ‘Alert’ and is expected to be implemented as early as this week. The isolation period for confirmed COVID-19 cases will be reduced from 7 days to 5 days, and temporary screening clinics will be eliminated.

Phase 2 marks the downgrade of COVID-19 from a Class 2 to a Class 4 infectious disease, and Phase 3 is the final stage entering endemic status. The government has set a target to implement Phase 2 around July and Phase 3 by next year.

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