Government “promoting strengthening of quarantine measures for religious facilities such as churches… in consultation with the religious community”

Excluded from the quarantine pass even for group infections such as Omicron mutation… Equity Controversy

Pan-government special quarantine inspection this month… Intensive inspection of quarantine pass and quarantine rules

“PCR test will continue free of charge…An additional support plan for home treatment will be decided soon”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Correspondent Choi In-young = Religious facilities such as churches were excluded from the extension of the quarantine pass (inoculation certificate, voice confirmation system), and amid controversy, the government announced that it would apply more strengthened quarantine measures to religious facilities.

“Currently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is discussing measures to strengthen the quarantine of religious facilities with the religious community,” said Son Young-rae, head of the social strategy division at the Central Accident Resolving Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare at a briefing on the 7th.

“We see the need to strengthen quarantine as an additional measure against the church,” Son added.

Since the previous day, the government has expanded and implemented the target of the quarantine pass. Restaurants/cafes and academies, movie theaters/performance halls, reading rooms/study cafes, multi-rooms, PC rooms, indoor stadiums, museums, art galleries, science centers, party rooms, and libraries are eligible for the new quarantine pass.

In addition, religious facilities were excluded from the expanded application of the quarantine pass along with wedding halls, funeral halls, and amusement park facilities.

However, as the group infection centered on religious facilities continues, such as the spread of the Omicron mutation, a new mutant virus of Corona 19, at a church in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, it is pointed out that it is necessary to apply the quarantine pass to religious facilities for fairness.

In this regard, Director Sohn said, “Currently, in the case of religious facilities consisting only of those who have completed inoculations, we are encouraging them to be operated mainly by those who have completed inoculations as much as possible by allowing 100% (of the capacity) to attend the worship service.” explained.

He also urged religious facilities to make efforts to ensure that small gatherings within the church can only be held within the limits of the number of private gatherings, and to comply with basic quarantine rules such as wearing a mask during worship and periodic ventilation.

The government plans to set the month of December as a pan-government special quarantine inspection period to intensively check whether the quarantine pass and quarantine rules are complied with.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to strengthen quarantine inspections on religious and multi-use facilities in cooperation with local governments and related associations and organizations, and intensively inspect facilities that extend the quarantine pass.

The Ministerial Responsibility System for each facility is also operated, in which the Minister and Vice-Minister personally visit sites such as sports facilities, religious facilities, and cultural facilities to check the quarantine status.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety examines compliance with quarantine passes, focusing on restaurants and entertainment facilities with many year-end and New Year gatherings and events.

It plans to intensively inspect restaurants near multi-use facilities during the winter season, such as fast food and beverage stores frequently used by students, and ski resorts and sledding slopes.

However, considering the one-week guidance period, this week will focus on the promotion of the expanded application of the quarantine pass, and starting next week, the inspection will begin in earnest and countermeasures such as imposition of fines.

Recently, the scale of the COVID-19 epidemic has increased and the omicron mutation is spreading, so the demand for COVID-19 testing has increased.

“We provide 350,000 to 450,000 tests free of charge every day, including the test for reporting suspicion and temporary screening,” said Sohn, “there are no plans to change this at the moment.”

However, he explained, “We will review whether there is a need to improve the inspection in consideration of the situation where there is a large difference in the quantity of inspections by day of the week.”

The government plans to discuss ways to provide additional support other than living support expenses to those who receive home treatment at a meeting this week.

President Moon Jae-in instructed Prime Minister Kim Bu-gyeom to review additional support measures in addition to living expenses to compensate for the problem of damage caused by not being able to work for cohabitants who are quarantined with those subject to at-home treatment the day before.

Park Hyang, head of the quarantine division at the Central Committee, said, “We are currently discussing the application method, support standards, and calculation standards.”

abbie@yna.co.kr

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2021/12/07 12:45 Send