SEOUL– South Korea’s COVID-19 cases continued to fall for the third consecutive day to around 125,000 on Friday, with the government deciding to remove all social distancing rules except the mask mandate amid the slowing virus wave.
The country added 125,846 new COVID-19 infections, including 14 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 16,104,869, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Friday’s count marks a decline since Tuesday’s 210,743, as the omicron wave has passed its peak after the record high infection tally of more than 620,000 on March 17.
The death toll from COVID-19 came to 20,616, up 264 from Thursday. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.
The number of critically ill patients reached 999, up 37 from the previous day.
South Korea will lift all COVID-19 social distancing rules, except the mask mandate, starting next week, in the first big step toward post-pandemic days since the outbreak of the novel virus two years ago.
Starting Monday, the midnight business hour curfew for restaurants, cafes and other small businesses will be completely lifted. The same will apply to the 10-person cap on the size of private gatherings, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said.
The mask mandate will stay for now as the government will carefully monitor the virus situation over the next two weeks, Kim said.
Health authorities will announce later in the day a “post-omicron response scheme,” expected to center on normalizing the medical system by downgrading the disease classification of COVID-19 from the current highest level.
Health authorities have hinted at an overhaul of social distancing and other quarantine measures, citing the waning virus and that the country is ready to move on to a post-pandemic phase.
South Korea first introduced social distancing measures in March 2020. At one point, the restrictions were tightened to only allow two people to meet at night and only allow takeout at cafes.
As of midnight Thursday, 44.52 million, or 86.8 percent out of the population, had been fully vaccinated with two shots, and 32.97 million had received the first booster shots, representing 64.3 percent, the KDCA said. The number of those who got their second booster shots came to 356,651, accounting for 0.7 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency