S. Korea announces end to COVID-19 pandemic

May 12, 2023, 09:12 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol announces the government’s lowering of the crisis level for COVID-19 from the highest “serious” to “alert” on the four-tier scale at a government COVID-19 response meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on May 11, 2023./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday declared an end to COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “I am happy that the public will be able to return to their daily lives after three years and four months.”

Presiding over a government COVID-19 response meeting at the presidential office, Yoon said, “I’ve also been to hospitals in charge of COVID-19 treatment several times, and the medical staff really worked hard.”

Thanking medical staff and health industry workers, Yoon said, “It would not be easy to feel how heard the medical staff went through without being in the field. Thanks to their cooperation, we were able to overcome the pandemic.”

“The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters has decided to revise down the COVID-19 crisis alert from ‘serious’ to ‘alert’ starting June,” the president said. “The World Health Organization declared an end to a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) regarding the virus, and the government’s National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee also recommended lowering the crisis level for the virus with eased measures.”

Yoon said that the 7-day mandatory isolation period of COVID-19 patients will be reduced to a recommendation of 5 days, and the PCR test-upon-arrival recommendation will be removed. He also said the indoor mask mandate will be lifted everywhere except for hospitals with rooms for hospitalization.

Yoon said the government will continue to provide financial support for COVID-19 testing and treatment for now.

“’Our government has been doing its best to establish a science-based response system,” Yoon said, adding, “The key of the government’s scientific quarantine was to handle several risks and improve the level of national immunity.”

“The government will steadily prepare a science-based response system for the possible emergence of a new infectious disease,” he said.

He also vowed to increase the country’s vaccine development capabilities while strengthening cooperation with the international community. “We will carefully prepare post-COVID-19 policies so that various social changes caused by COVID-19 can be transformed into future growth engines.

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