Lifting of Quarantine Pass for Marts and Department Stores One Week After Implementation

The government has decided to lift the quarantine pass for facilities with a low risk of COVID-19 transmission, such as large supermarkets, movie theaters, museums, private academies, and reading rooms. On the 17th, citizens were moving to shop at a large supermarket in Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The government will lift the vaccination certificate and negative test confirmation system (quarantine pass) for six types of facilities, including large supermarkets and department stores with low risk of COVID-19 transmission, as well as academies, study rooms, museums, and movie theaters, starting from the 18th. Initially, the government planned to apply the quarantine pass to supermarkets and department stores from the 17th, but this was halted after a court ruling deemed it an 'excessive restriction,' effectively canceling the measure within a week. With the Omicron variant expected to become dominant around this weekend, the government's inconsistent stance on the quarantine pass is causing a decline in public trust in quarantine policies.

Kwon Deok-cheol, the first deputy head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), stated during the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting, "The government plans to lift the quarantine pass for facilities where mask-wearing is possible at all times and activities that emit droplets are minimal." Deputy Head Kwon explained, "As the scale of the outbreak decreases and medical capacity increases, it is necessary to ease the quarantine pass for low-risk facilities considering quarantine principles and system acceptability." He added, "Confusion has arisen between regions due to conflicting court rulings, so adjustments are needed," and said, "We aim to improve the application facilities and exception scope of the quarantine pass by reflecting voices from the field and the current quarantine situation to minimize public inconvenience."

Experts pointed out that the government's unilateral policy decisions are only increasing confusion. Professor Jeong Ki-seok of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital (former director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) said, "The quarantine pass for supermarkets and department stores was practically never implemented and has been canceled," emphasizing, "This is evidence that the executive branch imposed excessive quarantine measures unilaterally. The government must actively explain the reasons and necessity for applying the quarantine pass and strengthen communication so that the public can understand, thereby establishing effective quarantine policies."