Jeong Sye-gyun "Reviewing New Social Distancing Measures Starting Next Week"

COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is speaking while presiding over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting on COVID-19 response held at the Government Seoul Office on the morning of the 28th. 2021.1.28 [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] The government will review changes to the social distancing levels due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) starting next week.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun presided over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting on the 28th at the Government Seoul Office and stated, "Today, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters will focus on discussing the new social distancing levels and quarantine standards to be applied from next week."

He added, "Since last week, we have been broadly collecting various opinions and have held multiple discussions with related ministries, local governments, and experts," and said, "We must deliberate carefully and reach a wise conclusion."

Prime Minister Chung also said, "The medical system has sufficient capacity, but several indicators, including the trend of confirmed cases, have recently become unstable," and noted, "How we spend the Lunar New Year holiday is also an important variable." He further added, "We must also ensure fairness in quarantine rules and social acceptability."

Following a cluster infection originating from a missionary group in Daejeon last weekend, another cluster infection involving over 100 people was confirmed the day before at an unlicensed educational facility operated by a church in Gwangju. Regarding this, Prime Minister Chung said, "The most urgent quarantine issue is to quickly block the nationwide spread of cluster infections," and urged, "Local governments should refer to Gwangju City's administrative measures (diagnostic testing for unlicensed educational and boarding facilities with five or more people in the jurisdiction) and do their best to ensure thorough and prompt inspections."