The South Korean government plans to focus on suppressing the number of severe and critical patients and deaths next year as part of its COVID-19 response measures. The requirement to present a "quarantine pass" certifying full vaccination or a negative PCR test result will be gradually removed, starting with facilities where the risk of infection is low. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced their joint business plan for "COVID-19 Quarantine Response" for 2022 on the 30th.

The government will pursue various policies with two key priorities next year: gradually regaining daily life after overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, and establishing a sustainable quarantine system to create a foundation for coexisting with COVID-19.

◇ Gradual easing of movement restrictions

In response to the resurgence of infections, the government has strengthened quarantine measures through "social distancing." However, the plan is to reorganize the measures to focus on suppressing severe illness and deaths among infected individuals, rather than movement restrictions.

Currently, the quarantine pass is required at facilities used by many people, but the number of facilities subject to this requirement will be gradually reduced next year. Based on factors such as the enclosedness and density of facilities, the obligation to present the quarantine pass will be lifted for facilities with lower quarantine risks.

Furthermore, the government will consider easing limits on the number of participants for events and gatherings involving only individuals who have completed vaccination, have recovered from the illness, or are exempt from vaccination.

◇ Expansion of hospital beds and acceleration of vaccination

The government will add 6,900 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients by the end of January next year, bringing the total to 24,702 beds. This will ensure that severe patients can receive safe treatment even if 10,000 new infections occur daily, the government explained.

Vaccination will be accelerated to ensure that a majority of the population can receive their third dose by the end of March. On the other hand, support for side effects from vaccination will be enhanced.

◇ Procurement of 90 million vaccine doses and oral medications

The government emphasized that it will secure a sufficient amount of vaccines next year as well, in preparation for the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. It plans to purchase 90 million vaccine doses with an investment of 2.6 trillion won (approximately 253 billion yen). This includes 60 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, 20 million doses of Moderna's vaccine, and 10 million doses from SK Bioscience of South Korea, which is expected to be commercialized.

In addition, to prevent severe illness in patients, 1.004 million doses of oral treatment (pills) will be procured. Contracts have already been signed for 604,000 doses of Pfizer's drug and 242,000 doses of Merck's drug.

The development of domestic vaccines and treatments will also be actively supported. The government will allocate 545.7 billion won in its budget next year for basic research, infrastructure development, and development.

As for the infectious disease response medical system, a central infectious disease hospital is planned to be constructed with a target completion date of 2026. The plan is to establish a system where this hospital collaborates with infectious disease specialized hospitals in each wide-area region and infectious disease control agencies in each local area.