Korea to lower Covid's classification, phase out quarantine altogether

Social Affairs

Published: 24 Apr. 2022, 18:22 Updated: 24 Apr. 2022, 18:26

Korea to lower Covid's classification, phase out quarantine altogether

Seoulites enjoy the sunny afternoon Saturday by reading books at the "Read at Seoul Plaza" outdoor library event in front of City Hall in central Seoul on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Starting Monday, Korea will downgrade Covid-19 to a "Class 2" disease and begin restoring the medical system to pre-pandemic protocol.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said it will adjust the infectious disease level for Covid-19 from the highest Class 1 to Class 2 from Monday to manage the disease in accordance with the weakened virus wave.

“While the risk has been lowered with the advent of the Omicron variant, it is highly likely that small-scale outbreaks will continue to occur,” Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said during a press briefing on April 15. “In consideration of this, there is a need to switch to a more routine response system for quarantine and medical response.”

Once Covid-19's infectious disease classification is downgraded from Class 1 to Class 2, accompanying conditions like chickenpox and measles, individuals infected will no longer be required to go under quarantine for seven days, and doctors don’t have to immediately report a positive test for the virus. With quarantine no longer being mandatory, Covid-19 patients can go to their nearest hospital or clinic to get treated instead of having to visit designated hospitals. The government's coverage for medical expenses will also end, and patients will have to pay for their own treatment.

But the government decided to give a certain period before implementing such changes in order to reduce confusion at the medical site.

The government designated the next four weeks from Monday a transition period, during which the current 7-day quarantine mandate will be maintained.

“[The transition] will proceed in phases and the quarantine mandate won’t be eliminated right away, so an immediate change won’t be perceived as of now,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said in a virus response meeting on April 22.

After the transition period ends, around May 23, the government will start a "settlement period" to actually implement changes in the quarantine and medical system equivalent to actual Class 2 infectious diseases. From then on, Covid-19 patients will likely be able to continue their everyday lives without having to isolate themselves.

The period may, however, be delayed further depending on the virus situation and the emergence of new virus variants. Recently, Korea confirmed its first cases of the Omicron recombinant variant XL, XE and XM.

In addition, President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol's transition team criticized the current government's decision to lift the quarantine mandate, calling it a “hasty approach,” raising possibilities that the rule may be changed after the inauguration of Yoon.

Health authorities will also decide this week whether to lift the outdoor mask-wearing mandate. Currently, masks have to be worn at all times indoors, and outdoors if a 2-meter (6-foot) distance cannot be kept between each other, and at mass events, rallies and festivals.

Yet the decision remains uncertain as the transition team also expressed concern over lifting the mask-wearing rule.

"Wearing a mask is a basic rule and the final defense line for all infectious disease prevention and management," the transition team noted, adding, "The government should not hastily remove public health measures against mask-wearing which the public are following well."

More virus protocols will be lifted from Monday.

People will be allowed to eat food inside movie theaters, indoor sports facilities, KTX trains and express buses. The consumption of food on city and town buses, which generally have more passengers, will still be banned.

Large retail chains and department stores can also set up food sampling booths.

Along with the government’s steps to return to normalcy, the Seoul Metropolitan Government removed the temporary Covid-19 screening center installed at Seoul Plaza in central Seoul and opened an outdoor library on Saturday.

The Covid-19 testing center was first installed in front of City Hall in July last year, and when Omicron cases started to surge, it conducted as many as 2,779 virus tests on Jan. 28 alone.

But with rapid antigen tests no longer available, the number of tests conducted decreased to around 100 daily.

The capital city decided to remove the testing center altogether and instead created an outdoor library event called "Read at Seoul Plaza." The outdoor library is open every Friday and Saturday until the end of October, where people can choose between more than 3,000 books brought out from the Seoul Metropolitan Library to borrow and read freely on beanbags, picnic mats and parasols prepared on the lawn at Seoul Plaza.

Korea reported 64,725 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the fourth day in a row for the daily tally to remain under 100,000. The total caseload stood at 16,895,194, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The country added 109 new virus deaths, bringing the death toll to 22,133.

Appointments for fourth doses of Covid-19 vaccines for people aged 60 or older will kick off from Monday. Anyone over the age of 59 who got their third shot more than four months ago is eligible.

Fourth doses with leftover vaccines have been available on a non-reservation, first-come, first-serve basis since April 14.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]