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| Tourists pass by a COVID-19 testing center at Incheon International Airport, Thursday. Korea announced a decision to end almost all COVID-19 restrictions beginning June 1. Yonhap |
Government to drop seven-day mandatory quarantine from June
By Jun Ji-hye
Korea announced it will stop classifying COVID-19 as a health crisis, lifting almost all pandemic-related restrictions next month, including mandatory isolation, and treat the disease as an endemic.
Placing the contagious disease in the endemic category means its presence has become more predictable and manageable much like seasonal influenza.
President Yoon Suk Yeol announced Thursday that the government will downgrade the classification of COVID-19 to "alert" from "serious," beginning June 1.
Korea has a four-tier system to cope with infectious diseases ― attention, caution, alert and serious ― and COVID-19 has been classified at the top level since February 2020.
"The seven-day mandatory isolation period for COVID-19 patients will be changed to a recommendation of a five-day isolation," Yoon said during a government meeting on COVID-19 responses.
The decision frees people to return to aspects of pre-pandemic normality after having been restricted through social distancing and other rules for three years and four months since the country reported its first patient on Jan. 20 of 2020.
"I want to express my gratitude to the doctors, nurses and nursing assistants who dedicated themselves in the front line, as well as to health industry workers who made efforts to develop and produce vaccines and treatments," Yoon said.
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| President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a government meeting on COVID-19 responses held at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps |
The announcement came after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared, on May 5, an end to what it calls a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) regarding the coronavirus.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) noted, however, that the transition to the endemic phase does not mean the complete end to the infectious disease, asking medical institutions and other facilities vulnerable to infections to maintain the isolation for COVID-19 patients voluntarily.
The government will also lift the indoor mask mandate everywhere except for hospitals with inpatient rooms and remove the PCR test recommendation within three days upon arrival from overseas trips.
Even after the new measures take effect on June 1, the government will maintain the COVID-19 medical response and support system.
It will continue to provide COVID-19 vaccinations and medicine for free and support medical costs for patients who are hospitalized.
The announcement of COVID-19 data, such as the number of newly confirmed cases, will be changed to a weekly basis from the current daily basis.
The control tower to manage the disease will be changed from the pan-government organization led by the prime minister to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The KDCA said health authorities will continue to monitor the situations in and outside the country and review the need to strengthen quarantine measures again, in case of the emergence of another wave of the pandemic.
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| Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jee Young-mee speaks during a media briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
"We are not ruling out the possibility of the emergence of a new COVID-19 mutation, but such a situation will not occur only in Korea," KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said during a media briefing.
While the country still reports over 100,000 COVID-19 cases a week, experts called on the government to take extra care in managing high-risk groups for the disease, such as the elderly.
They also cited the need to draw up measures to protect laborers who could be forced to work even when they are sick, following the end of mandatory isolation.
"If facilities vulnerable to infections such as medical institutes fail to isolate COVID-19 patients properly, it would lead to mass infections," said Eom Joong-sik, an infectious disease professor at Gachon University Medical Center. "The government should be prepared for the possible emergence of a new COVID-19 mutation or another infectious disease."
Lee Jae-gab, a professor of infectious diseases at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, said the government should pay attention to the reality of the labor sector.
"So far, laborers have been able to get vacations from companies (when they tested positive for COVID-19) thanks to the mandatory isolation rule. But changing mandatory isolation to a recommendation could give a blow to vulnerable workers," he said.
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