Seoul [South Korea]: The government re-announced that it is difficult to maintain the current ‘social distancing’ restrictions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and it will come up with a plan for the phased recovery of daily life. The government suggested from the end of October to the beginning of November as the time to adopt phased recovery of daily life, called the ‘With Corona’ system. “Considering other countries with high vaccination rates, we are reviewing whether to maintain the current social distancing system,” Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol said at an invitational debate held at the Korea Artist Center in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, on the 28th. “It is quite difficult for the people to continue to comply with the current quarantine restrictions.” He added, “The government is going to come up with measures how to implement current social distancing and quarantine restrictions with experts and media, and will also devise ways to gradually recover our daily life.” “The end of October, when the vaccination rate is more than 90% for the elderly and 80% for the general public (adult population), can be the time to switch,” Minister Kwon said. “Considering that the immune effect appears after two weeks of the vaccination, we are considering adopting the ‘With Corona’ system from early November.” Regarding the phased recovery of daily life plan, Minister Kwon said, “Firstly, the government is considering ways to ease restrictions on private gatherings and social distancing at multi-purpose facilities. In Germany, there is a ‘Vaccine Pass’ that allows only people, who completed the vaccination, fully recovered from COVID-19, or tested negative, to use the facility. We are considering adopting this system.” The Vaccine Pass is a kind of health certificate provided to those who have completed the vaccination. Minister Kwon said, “We will gradually ease restrictions so that multi-purpose facilities can be used by people who vaccinated, cured, or having a negative certificate. Also, the business hour restriction will be also gradually eased from 22:00 to 24:00 by simplifying the quarantine rules as much as possible.”
