The outdoor mask-wearing mandate will be fully lifted starting from the 26th.

It will no longer be necessary to wear masks when participating in outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people, or when attending performances or sports events.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced this policy during his opening remarks at the COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Complex Seoul on the 23rd, stating that "we are surely passing the peak of the COVID-19 resurgence."

Prime Minister Han added, "I am grateful to the citizens who have been consistently focusing on epidemic prevention even without uniform social distancing strategies," and "the government will continue to lift low-risk epidemic prevention regulations one by one after gathering opinions from experts, taking into account the epidemic situation and public inconvenience."

However, the indoor mask-wearing mandate will be maintained for the time being.

Prime Minister Han explained that this is "a measure that takes into account the increase in influenza patients and the possibility of a winter COVID-19 resurgence."

Prime Minister Han revealed that a survey on COVID-19 antibody positivity rates targeting 10,000 citizens showed that "about 97% possess antibodies through vaccination and natural infection."

He explained, "The antibody positivity rate due to natural infection was about 57%, which is about 19 percentage points higher than the cumulative infection rate of 38% during the same period," adding, "This means that there are around 20% of unidentified infections."

Prime Minister Han said, "We will continue to accumulate data, such as by conducting long-term follow-up surveys on changes in antibody levels, and use it to establish countermeasures."

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