Social distancing rules could be revised before Lunar New Year: PM

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun speaks during a meeting Monday. (Yonhap)

South Korea is mulling an adjustment to its social distancing rules ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday as the country looks to curb the ongoing virus wave and save the livelihoods of small merchants and businesspeople at the same time.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a meeting Monday that the government will monitor the virus situation throughout this week and review whether to ease any rules for the holiday weekend spanning from Feb. 11 to Feb. 14.

“If we obtain a belief that we are in a stabilization phase after examining this week’s progress, we will review the possibility of easing any virus control measures before the Lunar New Year holiday,” he said.

“Please have faith in the government and cooperate with our measures for just a little longer.”

At the moment, the government is enforcing Level 2.5 social distancing rules in the capital region -- Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province -- and Level 2 rules in the rest of the country.

An additional ban on private gatherings of five or more is also in place as well as a 9 p.m. curfew for most businesses. Indoor gyms, cafes, and karaoke establishments were given exceptions to open under strict adherence to virus control rules.

The government on Sunday extended the rules that have been in place for another two weeks until the end of Lunar New Year holiday on Feb. 14. Officials had planned on lifting the restrictions that have been in place since December, but the idea was nixed after cases increased over the week.

Korea reported as many as 554 cases a day over the past week partly due to mass outbreaks at unauthorized missionary schools, sparking worries that its ongoing third COVID-19 wave will not stabilize and end as expected.

“It is difficult to verify whether the trend of increases last week was just a temporary phenomenon or a general sign of the wave coming back with greater force,” said Health Ministry official Son Young-rae in a press briefing Monday.

Son said the government would have to monitor at least until Wednesday to start discussing whether to ease any measures in place. The smaller number of cases reported Monday morning does not ensure that Korea has avoided anything thus far, he added.

Further adding to the virus woes here are the discovery of fresh cases of COVID-19 variants traced to Britain, South Africa and Brazil. Korea has so far reported a total of 34 cases of the more transmissible COVID-19 variants, with seven newly added on Monday afternoon.

The government has been enforcing all entries from overseas to receive two COVID-19 checks after entering Korea while requiring all travelers to submit a negative COVID-19 test result before arriving. All flights from Britain have also been banned until Feb. 11.

Korea on Monday added the smallest amount of new cases in more than two months at 303 new cases -- 285 locally transmitted and 20 imported from overseas -- raising the accumulated total to 78,508.

The figure, the lowest reported since 271 cases were added on Nov. 23, is down from 355 cases Sunday and 458 cases reported Saturday.

By Sunday’s end, Korea had also reported a total of 1,420 deaths from the coronavirus, up five from a day earlier. The number of COVID-19 patients in serious or critical condition reached 225, down from 229 people a day earlier.

The country conducted 33,651 tests throughout Sunday, down from 48,800 checks done a day earlier.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)

<ⓒKoreaHerald(www.koreaherald.com)무단전재 및 재배포 금지>