The government is considering shortening the mandatory quarantine period for people with Covid-19 from seven days to five.
The National Advisory Committee on Infectious Disease Crisis Response, which serves as an advisory body for major epidemic prevention policies, held a meeting on Monday to discuss plans for the daily recovery from the Covid-19 virus, including quarantine obligations.
According to multiple attendees, the committee discussed reducing the quarantine period from seven to five days as an interim step before the quarantine mandate is lifted.
The discussion follows the government previously discussing whether to lift or shorten the seven-day quarantine mandate in June last year but decided to keep it in place as it was difficult to handle the increase in cases resulting from lifting the quarantine.
However, the government recently decided to re-discuss the idea as the situation is now more stable thanks to bivalent vaccination.
While some committee members have suggested shortening the mandatory quarantine period to three days, most members found it unreasonable to shorten the period to less than five days.
In addition to the quarantine mandate, the meeting also discussed measures to transition the Coivd-19 response to the general healthcare system, including financial support for medical treatment.
The government is currently covering some of the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by people with Covid-19 when they receive outpatient care or prescriptions for medication.
For example, the government will cover the cost of Paxlovid or medical care for patients in intensive care units.
However, as a sudden or significant reduction in such support could increase the burden of Covid-19 testing and treatment, which could lead to citizens avoiding tests, health experts expect that the government will likely proceed with a gradual reduction.
The government will finalize and announce the "Covid-19 Crisis Phase Adjustment Roadmap" at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Korea added 12,129 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total caseload to 30,785,589, according to the KDCA.
Tuesday's tally is up from 4,204 cases reported on Monday, and also higher than the 12,013 cases reported a week earlier.