Korea will no longer require citizens to wear face masks on public transportation, including buses and trains, from Monday next week.
Masks have been a part of everyday life for three years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government mandate on masks came into effect on Oct. 13, 2020. Through the revision of the Prevention of Infectious Diseases Act, face masks became mandatory indoors, including multi-use facilities, public transportation, gatherings and rallies, medical institutions, and nursing homes.
After a one-month transition period, the government imposed fines on Nov. 13, 2020 for violations of those that did not comply with such rules. On April 12, 2021, it became mandatory to wear a mask not only indoors but also outdoors when a distance of at least two meters could not be maintained.
Also, in the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in Korea, the demand for masks skyrocketed while the supply ran out, causing shortages.
In March 2020, the government temporarily intervened in supply and demand to stabilize the market. As supply and demand stabilized, the government again switched to a market supply system in July of that year.
After the Omicron pandemic spiked the number of confirmed cases early 2022, discussions on restoring normalcy began in earnest. The government lifted social distancing on April 18 2022, and the outdoor mask started to slowly ease mask requirements in early May 2022.
On May 2 2022, the government lifted the outdoor mask requirement except for sports events, and on Sept. 26 that year, it lifted outdoor masks altogether.
Most recently, the government decided to lift the indoor mask mandate on Jan. 30 after the peak of the outbreak last winter.
However, the authorities are still cautious about removing the requirement for face masks in healthcare institutions or the mandatory seven-day quarantine for confirmed patients.
Health officials believe that in healthcare settings, the benefits of maintaining the mandatory mask requirement outweigh the risks of switching to a recommendation. This is because such places are mainly used by elderly and immunocompromised people, who are more vulnerable to Covid-19 infection.
Health officials also stressed that other countries, where mask regulations are relatively looser than in Korea, still require masks to be worn at medical centers.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), as of Feb. 25, all major OECD countries, except Israel, require face masks in medical institutions.
The government may also start discussing the removal of the seven-day quarantine requirement for people with Covid-19 soon.
If the WHO Emergency Committee lifts the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for Covid-19, which is scheduled for late April or early May, the Central Disease Control Headquarters will convene a crisis assessment meeting to determine whether to downgrade the Covid-19 crisis phase from the current "severe" to "alert" and whether to adjust the Covid-19 pandemic status.
When the WHO lowers the crisis level to alert, the Central Disaster Safety and Countermeasures Center, headed by the Prime Minister, will be dissolved and replaced by a disaster crisis management system centered on the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
During that time, the government will likely lower the Covid-19 infectious disease to a Level 4 infectious disease from its current Level 2 status.
According to the Infectious Disease Prevention Act, a class 2 infectious disease is a disease that must be reported within 24 hours and requires quarantine, while class 4 is a disease that requires sampling surveillance activities to investigate the prevalence of the disease.
This would remove the rationale for maintaining quarantine obligations.
Korea's daily Covid-19 cases have remained steady at around 10,000 cases per day.
On Wednesday, Korea added 11,899 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total caseload to 30,662,229, according to the KDCA.
Wednesday's tally is up from 11,401 cases reported on Wednesday, but lower than the 12,791 cases reported a week earlier.