Prime Minister Jeong: "Social Distancing to be Detailed from Three to Five Levels"

Prime Minister Jeong: "Not an 'Economic Quarantine Relaxation'... A Restructuring for Effective Quarantine"

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is speaking at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on COVID-19 held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced on the 1st that "the social distancing stages will be subdivided from three stages to five stages to better reflect reality."

At the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting on COVID-19 held at the Government Seoul Office that day, Prime Minister Chung said, "We intend to finalize the social distancing reform plan suitable for the 'with Corona' era."

The goal is to establish a 'sustainable quarantine system,' with 'precision quarantine' as the core. After about a month of gathering expert opinions, consultations with related ministries and local governments, and discussions within the CDSCH, this measure was announced.

Prime Minister Chung stated, "First, the distancing stages will be subdivided from three to five stages to better reflect reality," adding, "This is to address the drawback that the differences in quarantine intensity between each existing stage were too large, which lowered social acceptance when adjusting stages."

He explained, "We will redesign quarantine measures tailored to facilities and situations, instead of uniform orders such as gathering bans or restrictions that did not properly consider conditions by facility or situation," and "We aim to increase compliance with quarantine rules on the ground to enhance quarantine effectiveness."

He continued, "The quarantine targets will be simplified into key management facilities and general management facilities," and added, "Core quarantine rules such as mask-wearing, which were previously mandatory only in high-risk facilities, will be expanded to apply to both key and general management facilities."

Prime Minister Chung made it clear that the easing of quarantine is not simply because of economic reasons.

He said, "There may be misunderstandings that this reform is intended to ease quarantine for the economy by only looking at the number of confirmed cases, which is the key indicator for stage adjustment, but I emphasize that this is not the case."

He added, "Please understand that this reform is to protect the precious daily lives of the people a little more based on solid and effective quarantine," and "As always, I ask for the cooperation and participation of the people."

Prime Minister Chung recalled that the number of confirmed cases has exceeded one hundred for five consecutive days recently. He urged thorough preparation for quarantine measures for the upcoming college entrance exam, which is about a month away.

He emphasized, "About 500,000 people will take the college entrance exam at approximately 1,300 test sites nationwide," and "Related organizations, including the Ministry of Education, local education offices at all levels, and schools, should strengthen inspections to ensure no gaps in managing examinees and pre-quarantine measures from now on."

He added, "I also ask examinees and parents to strictly follow quarantine rules in daily life to avoid exposure to COVID-19 infection risks ahead of the college entrance exam."