The government said Friday it would secure sufficient healthcare capacity first to move to the “live-with-covid” system from November.
It was the first time that the government officially set its timeline to shift to the relaxed quarantine system, in which most restrictions are eased with officials focusing on severe cases and deaths instead of new virus cases.
In switching to the "with corona" phase, as the eased system is called here, the government believes that the next two weeks would be crucial to prepare for the gradual recovery of daily life. Officials have repeatedly urged people to comply with quarantine rules and participate in vaccinations to do so.
"The government plans to adjust the current social distancing scheme in stages considering the quarantine situation and vaccination rate after two weeks, and will switch to a gradual recovery system from November," said Lee Ki-il, a division chief at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
The decision is to have two weeks to prepare in advance to stably manage the current quarantine situation, secure hospital beds and home treatment ahead of a phased daily recovery in November, he added.
Lee stressed that if the nation increases the vaccination rate, prevents the spread of infection among unvaccinated people, and treats seriously ill patients efficiently, it will be able to return to pre-Covid-19 days phase by phase from November.
Aside from the announcement, the government decided to extend the current social distancing of Level 4 in the Seoul metro region and Level 3 in the rest of the country until Oct. 17.
As a result, the easing of measures was only marginal. The government increased the threshold of gatherings for weddings, babies' first birthday parties, and outdoor sports facilities for those vaccinated to attend while maintaining the framework such as the number of private meetings and restrictions on business hours.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 2,486 new virus cases, including 2,451 local infections, raising the total caseload to 313,773. The country also saw 16 more deaths from the virus, increasing total cases to 2,497 with a fatality rate of 0.8 percent.
The country's fourth pandemic wave had worsened in the aftermath of the fall harvest Chuseok holiday last week, when masses traveled nationwide, with daily cases reaching a record high of 3,271 on Saturday.
This week, the figure has stayed in the 2,000s, with 2,884 cases reported Wednesday and 2,563 on Thursday. Daily cases have remained above 1,000 for the last 87 days.
Under current rules, cafes and restaurants in the greater Seoul area are allowed to open doors until 10 p.m., and gatherings of up to six people are allowed in the capital area after 6 p.m. if four of them are fully vaccinated.
Korea has vaccinated 39,347,573 people – 11,090,978 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 20,892,578 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,439,152 with Janssen's vaccine, 5,581,113 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 343,752 from the previous day. The figure accounts for 76.6 percent of the total population.