The COVID-19 pass will be temporarily suspended from next month 1st at multi-use facilities such as restaurants and cafes.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 28th during the opening remarks at the Central Countermeasures Headquarters that "Considering the revision of the quarantine system in consideration of Omicron's characteristics and issues of fairness by age and region, the application of the COVID-19 pass to all 11 types of multi-use facilities, including restaurants and cafes, will be temporarily suspended starting tomorrow."

It was explained that "With the recent surge in confirmed cases, public health centers, which have invested a lot of personnel and resources in issuing voice confirmation certificates for the COVID-19 pass, will be able to focus on managing confirmed cases in high-risk groups with this measure, and the response capacity to Omicron in the field will be further strengthened."

It was also stated that "To further strengthen the response capacity to Omicron in the field, 3,000 civil servants from 42 central government agencies will be dispatched to 258 public health centers nationwide starting today and within this week." and "1,000 military personnel will also be deployed sequentially by the end of this weekend."

In addition, it was said that "Local governments nationwide plan to deploy 32,500 people, including existing public health center staff and administrative personnel reassigned, to respond with all their might to the increasing number of confirmed cases." and "Along with expanding personnel in the field, improvements in work methods will be made in parallel to allow each public health center to focus its capabilities on essential quarantine tasks."

Regarding rapid antigen test kits, it was explained that "The supply volume scheduled for March is 210 million units, and there are no problems with the overall supply and demand." and "Starting this week, test kits necessary for twice-weekly testing will be distributed free of charge to children, students, vulnerable groups, etc., and sufficient supplies will be provided to the private sector, such as pharmacies and convenience stores."

It was emphasized that "Due to the impact of Omicron's spread, confirmed cases have been doubling every week since the third week of January." and "Compared to the peak of the Delta variant at the end of last year, the average daily number of confirmed cases has increased more than 17 times, but core quarantine indicators such as severe patients, deaths, and bed occupancy rates are being managed relatively stably."

Article Source: ⓒkmib

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