"Government Accelerates Daily Life Recovery Amid 'COVID-19 Quarantine Recommendations'... Plans May Be Significantly Advanced"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

There is speculation that the mandatory 7-day quarantine for COVID-19 positive cases could be changed to a recommendation as early as the end of this month. On the 9th at 2 p.m., the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) held a crisis assessment meeting to consider lowering the COVID-19 crisis level from ‘serious’ to ‘caution.’ The day before, the National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) conveyed to the government that “considering the domestic quarantine situation comprehensively, it would be appropriate to switch the mandatory 7-day quarantine for COVID-19 to a recommendation.”

A government official told Asia Economy right after the crisis assessment meeting, “We are internally reviewing whether to fully merge phases 1 and 2 of the COVID-19 recovery roadmap or to implement phase 1 while partially running phase 2 concurrently.” The quarantine authorities initially planned to first implement phase 1, which reduces the mandatory quarantine period for confirmed cases from 7 days to 5 days, and then plan phase 2, which changes quarantine to a recommendation, in July. Phase 2 also includes measures such as mask-wearing in medical institutions and infection-vulnerable facilities, and shifting to a general medical system where general patients bear part of the hospitalization costs. Phase 3, which would remove all COVID-19 quarantine and support measures, is scheduled for the first half of next year but may change flexibly depending on this quarantine decision.

The government’s faster-than-planned lifting of quarantine measures is interpreted as being due to the World Health Organization (WHO) lifting the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and the sufficient medical response capacity. As the COVID-19 risk level decreases, other countries are transitioning to normal life more quickly. Japan decided to manage COVID-19 like the flu starting from the 8th, and the United States ended its COVID-19 emergency status on the 11th. In the U.S., COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and treatment costs must now be borne by individuals, and foreigners entering the country no longer need to submit proof of vaccination.

However, some point out that once quarantine measures are lifted, it is difficult to strengthen them again, so the domestic situation, where COVID-19 cases are increasing, should be observed more carefully. Professor Kim Woo-joo of the Infectious Diseases Department at Korea University Guro Hospital criticized, “While other countries are easing quarantine because cases are decreasing, our country is going in the opposite direction, yet there are no additional measures and the focus is only on lifting quarantine.” According to ‘Our World in Data,’ in the past week, South Korea ranked first among major countries such as the U.S., India, France, Germany, and Japan in confirmed cases per one million population. This could potentially increase the rate of severe illness and mortality among high-risk groups.

The KDCA plans to finalize the meeting results after reporting and reviewing them with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCHQ). The specific timing is likely to be after June 11, when Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, head of the CDSCHQ, returns from his overseas trip. However, the actual implementation of lifting the mandatory quarantine for confirmed cases is expected to be at least by the end of this month. This is because it requires revising the official notice to downgrade COVID-19 to a level 4 legal infectious disease that does not require quarantine and to delete COVID-19 from the list of infectious diseases designated by the KDCA director.

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