The South Korean government will analyze the impact of the summer vacation season and the Liberation Day (August 15, anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule) long weekend (August 14-16) to decide whether to extend the current COVID-19 infection prevention measures, "Social Distancing," (Level 4, the highest, in the Seoul metropolitan area, and generally Level 3 in areas outside the Seoul metropolitan area). This was announced by Kang Do-tae, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, at a regular press briefing on the 17th.

Vice Minister Kang stated at the regular press briefing, "We need to assess the impact of the summer vacation season and the Liberation Day long weekend, and we will consider various epidemic indicators such as the one-week average of new infections, the number of severe cases, and the effective reproduction rate (indicating how many people one infected person infects), as well as the vaccination schedule, when reviewing the levels."

Currently, Level 4 of Social Distancing has been applied for six consecutive weeks in the Seoul metropolitan area, and Level 3, the second highest, has been applied for four consecutive weeks in areas outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

Since the current level expires on the 22nd, the government must decide the level to be applied from next week within this week.

Kang explained that in the early stages of the "fourth wave" of the epidemic, the number of new infections per day in the Seoul metropolitan area exceeded 900, accounting for over 70% of all community infections, and the epidemic spread mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area. However, infections are now increasing in areas outside the Seoul metropolitan area as well, making it difficult to decide the level based solely on the number of infections in the Seoul metropolitan area.

He also called for adherence to basic epidemic prevention rules and urged people to get tested if they have symptoms suspected of being related to infection after their vacation or the long weekend. He emphasized that in the current situation, the swift completion of vaccinations is more important than anything else and requested active cooperation.

Article Source: ⓒYONHAP NEWS 

These are English translations of articles from our GTTOUR Japanese website.