Korea to lower Covid crisis level as early as this week

A person tests for Covid-19 at a testing center in Daegu on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Korea plans to lower its national crisis level for Covid-19 as early as this week following the World Health Organization (WHO)’s declaration marking the end of Covid-19 as a global health emergency.

“The decision on whether or not to downgrade the national crisis level for Covid-19 will be made as early as this week in a meeting hosted by the commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA),” an official from the KDCA said, adding that the meeting will be held after conducting a meeting with a government advisory committee on the pandemic.

“The lowering of the national crisis level for Covid-19 will be decided as soon as possible after going through expert advisories and meetings, and comprehensively considering factors such as the domestic situation and policies of other major countries,” said Jee Young-mee, commissioner of the KDCA.

The move comes after the WHO lifted the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for Covid-19 after about three years and four months.

With the lowered risk level, the mandatory quarantine for Covid-19 patients in Korea will be reduced from seven to five days. Operations of temporary screening clinics for Covid-19 will be halted and daily reports of the number of confirmed patients will be made on a weekly basis.

The authority in charge of safety prevention for Covid-19 will also be demoted to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters led by the Minister of Health and Welfare from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters led by the Prime Minister.

Some other countries have already lifted most of their restrictions to swiftly return to pre-pandemic conditions.

Japan downgraded Covid-19 to the same level as seasonal flu on Monday. This will lift the seven-day mandatory quarantine in the country and require patients to pay for parts of their treatment and testing costs for Covid-19. But Tokyo will maintain coverage for expensive Covid-19 medicine for now.

The United States will also end the Covid-19 emergency declaration this Thursday. International travelers coming into the country will no longer be required to show proof of Covid-19 vaccinations. Covid patients will need to pay for vaccinations, screening and treatments depending on their insurance coverage.

Experts say a hasty transition is unnecessary as there are still a relatively high number of people confirmed with the virus.

“We do not need to lift all restrictions just because the WHO announced the end of global health emergency declaration for Covid-19,” said Jung Ki-suck, head of an advisory committee to the government on the pandemic, who is also a pulmonary and allergy professor at Hallym University Medical Center in Anyang, Gyeonggi.

“Korea would also need to switch from mandatory quarantines to recommended ones like Japan, but there are still more than 10,000 Covid patients a day and its infection rate is still high.”

The country reported 8,164 new Covid-19 cases Monday, up around 2,400 from the same day the previous week. The daily average number of patients remained at 15,647 over the past week, according to the KDCA.

Another official from the KDCA added, “Japan and the United States will support Covid-19 screening and treatment for a while, so this does not differ much from Korea’s roadmap for the resumption of the pre-pandemic era.”

The KDCA plans to switch mandatory quarantines to recommended ones by around July. The agency anticipates the pandemic will be downgraded to infectious disease levels such as the flu early next year.

BY YI WOO-LIM, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]