Indoor masks to be removed from the 30th… maintained for medical institutions and public transport

The indoor mask-wearing mandate will be relaxed to a "recommendation" starting on the 30th. This comes approximately 2 years and 3 months after the South Korean government implemented the measure in October 2020 for COVID-19 epidemic prevention.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Complex Seoul on the 20th, "The number of confirmed cases has decreased for three consecutive weeks, and three out of the four indoor mask adjustment indicators have been met," adding, "We will relax the indoor mask-wearing mandate to a recommendation starting on the 30th, after the Lunar New Year holiday."

He continued, "However, to protect vulnerable groups, the mandate will be maintained for the time being in medical institutions, pharmacies, infection-vulnerable facilities, and public transportation."

Prime Minister Han urged, "With the relaxation of the mask mandate, the importance of vaccination has increased. I strongly recommend that high-risk groups aged 60 and over and the elderly residing in infection-vulnerable facilities get vaccinated as soon as possible."

He also said, "This will be the first Lunar New Year holiday without social distancing," and added, "We will respond to ensure that COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment are carried out stably during the holiday period."

Previously, when the first domestic COVID-19 patient occurred on January 20, 2020, the government implemented the indoor mask-wearing mandate in October of that year to strengthen epidemic prevention measures. The wearing of outdoor masks was changed to a "recommendation" last September.

The government presented four evaluation indicators for lifting the indoor mask-wearing mandate: △ a decrease in weekly patient occurrence for two or more consecutive weeks, △ a decrease in weekly new severe/critical patients compared to the previous week and a weekly fatality rate of 0.10% or less, △ 50% or more of available intensive care beds that can be mobilized within 4 weeks, and △ a winter booster vaccination rate of 50% for the elderly and 60% or more for infection-vulnerable facilities.

The National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee had previously stated that if two or more of these were met, the indoor mask-wearing mandate would be lifted for all but some facilities after a comprehensive judgment.

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