The government said it has no plans to change restrictions on private gatherings in relation to the ‘social distancing’ system that is being implemented to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
Son Young-rae, head of the social strategy division of the Central Accident Resolving Headquarters, said at a regular briefing on the 4th, “The restriction on private gatherings is a very key measure in the current (enforced) distancing system.”
In response to Prime Minister Kim Bu-gyeom’s statement in an interview with the media on the same day, “It is too harsh for the self-employed to not be able to meet more than two people after 6 pm,” he emphasized, “I didn’t say there was a possibility of a change.”
He said, “Since the difficulties of the self-employed and small business owners are very great, please understand it as meaning that we are trying to reverse the current spread of the current epidemic as soon as possible so that these measures do not occur anymore.”
“There is no plan to completely change the part about private meetings,” Son emphasized again and again.
The current distance system prioritizes ‘autonomy and responsibility’ and has been newly applied since last month.
According to steps 1 to 4, the size of private gatherings is set to no limit → up to 8 people → up to 4 people → up to 2 people after 6pm, etc.
As it has been over a month since the new system was applied, the government is listening to opinions from the field and looking for areas to supplement.
“It’s been about a month since the new distance system was applied,” Sohn explained.
He continued, “In addition to this, we are looking to see if there are areas to supplement, including issues raised by the media.”
The government is also contemplating quarantine measures taking into account the characteristics of the ‘delta’ mutation originating in India, which is spreading rapidly recently.
The delta-type mutation is known to have much stronger transmission power than the existing virus, and when infected, it is highly likely to worsen into a severe condition. Recently, a ‘delta plus’ mutation derived from the delta type was also confirmed in Korea.
Director Sohn said, “There is a side that the transmission power is slightly strengthened due to the delta mutation, so we are watching together to see if there are areas that need to be strengthened effectively, that is, areas that need to be strengthened effectively along with the equity controversy.”
The government will hold a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 6th and announce a plan to adjust the distance to be applied from next week.
The phased quarantine measures currently being implemented in the metropolitan area (step 4) and non-metropolitan areas (step 3) are scheduled to end on the 8th.
Regarding the possibility of easing the measure to ban private gatherings of three or more people after 6 pm in the metropolitan area, Son said, “We are discussing how to do the social distancing phase.” There are no plans to change the ban,” he said.
As the COVID-19 situation continues for a long time, some argue that the basis of the quarantine response system should be changed to focus on managing the fatality rate instead of focusing on the number of confirmed cases as it is now, but the government took a cautious stance.
Lee Ki-il, the first control officer of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Ministry of Health and Welfare), said, “The fatality-centered quarantine system is a system that protects targets with a high fatality rate, such as the elderly, while easing quarantine management such as distancing as much as possible, rather than suppressing the occurrence of confirmed cases.” explained.
He said, “This change is possible when the fatality rate can be sufficiently lowered through vaccination and the spread can be controlled at an appropriate level,” he said.
(yunhap news)
