Jiyoungmi, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, stated on the 2nd, "The timing for reclassifying COVID-19 to a Level 4 infectious disease will be carefully decided after thoroughly considering comprehensive conditions such as domestic and international outbreaks and quarantine situations, and consulting with experts."

Jiyoungmi, Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the same day, Commissioner Ji presided over the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting and said, "The government will steadily carry out preparations to transition COVID-19 to a Level 4 infectious disease while managing the current quarantine situation stably."

Regarding the lifting of mask mandates in hospital-level medical institutions and residential infection-vulnerable facilities, she said, "We will conduct in-depth reviews with the protection of high-risk groups in mind and announce the decision next week."

The daily average number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has recently reached the 45,000 range, showing an increasing trend for five consecutive weeks. In response, Commissioner Ji stated, "(The current summer outbreak) is about 30% of the fatality rate during last summer's outbreak, indicating that the disease risk has significantly decreased," adding, "The XBB lineage variants currently spreading domestically and internationally are Omicron subvariants, which are evaluated to have clinical symptoms and disease risks that are not higher than previous variants."

Commissioner Ji said, "The possibility of COVID-19 causing a major threat to our society again is low," but also noted, "It is not yet a complete endemic. It is expected that one or two large or small outbreaks will continue to recur annually for the time being."

She emphasized, "For healthy individuals, COVID-19 now poses a risk level similar to influenza, but protection for the elderly and immunocompromised individuals remains necessary."

Commissioner Ji stated, "With the increase in confirmed cases, we recommend voluntarily wearing masks again in crowded spaces such as multi-use facilities and public transportation," and "We urge confirmed COVID-19 patients to actively comply with the recommended 5-day isolation to protect their families, neighbors, and colleagues."