"Government Accelerates Daily Life Recovery with 'COVID-19 Isolation Recommendation'... Final Announcement on the 11th (Comprehensive)"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As early as the end of this month, the mandatory 7-day quarantine for COVID-19 confirmed cases will be changed to a recommendation. 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 immediately 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 for transitioning to a general medical system, such as mask-wearing in medical institutions and infection-vulnerable facilities, and out-of-pocket expenses for general public inpatient treatment, but it is known that some measures may need to be maintained for the time being. Phase 3, which involves the complete removal of all COVID-19 quarantine and support measures, is scheduled for the first half of next year, but there are forecasts that it could 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 moving faster toward normalcy. 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 since it is difficult to strengthen quarantine measures again once they are lifted, the domestic situation of increasing COVID-19 cases should be observed more carefully. Professor Kim Woo-joo of the Infectious Diseases Department at Korea University Guro Hospital criticized, “Overseas, quarantine is being eased because confirmed cases are decreasing, but in our country, the situation is going the opposite way, and there are no additional measures, only a focus 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 1 million population. This could potentially increase the rate of severe illness and mortality among high-risk groups.

The KDCA plans to finalize the announcement after reporting and reviewing the meeting results at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) on the 11th. Usually, the CDSCH meetings are chaired by the Prime Minister or the Minister of Health and Welfare, but this time, since the message about easing quarantine such as lifting the mandatory quarantine is significant, it is reported that President Yoon Suk-yeol will preside directly. However, the actual implementation of lifting the mandatory quarantine is expected to be at least by the end of this month. This is because it takes at least 20 days to revise 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.