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| Medical workers wearing protective gear transfers a COVID-19 patient to Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang District, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap |
Private gathering size cut to 4, unvaccinated face more restrictions
By Lee Hyo-jin
The government's latest social distancing measures, reintroduced in response to the country's worst ever COVID-19 crisis, may do little to contain the spread of the coronavirus by the year's end, according to medical experts.
As the country continues to struggle with its biggest surge in infections since the pandemic outbreak, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced a return to tough social distancing restrictions Thursday, while officially halting the administration's plan for a "return to normalcy."
Under the new measures, regardless of vaccination records, the size of private gatherings will be reduced to four nationwide, down from the current six in the greater Seoul area and eight in other regions.
Entertainment venues such as clubs and bars, cafes, eateries, public baths, along with indoor gyms, will have to close at 9 p.m., while theaters, concert halls and cram schools can operate until 10 p.m.
Unvaccinated individuals will face stronger restrictions. Without submitting a negative PCR test result, they will not be able sit at eateries and cafes, unless they are alone or are using take-out services.
The measures will be put into effect from Saturday for 16 days through Jan. 2.
The government's U-turn back to distancing restrictions comes as the COVID-19 situation has been spiraling out of control, growing beyond the country's medical capacity.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 7,622 daily new infections for Wednesday, raising the aggregated total to 544,117. The number of patients in critical condition hit an all-time high at 989.
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| Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong speaks during a COVID-19 response briefing held at the Government Complex Sejong, Thursday. Yonhap |
During a COVID-19 response briefing, Thursday, KDCA chief Jeong Eun-kyoung warned that at this pace, the country may see up to a 10,000 daily caseload this month and as much as 20,000 in January.
Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol, for his part, asked for public cooperation and understanding on the tightened social distancing measures and urged people to refrain from unnecessary gatherings.
President Moon Jae-in offered an apology for the toughening of quarantine measures, which have come about six weeks after the administration kicked off its "Living with COVID-19" strategy.
"The government has failed to curb the surge in critically ill patients and secure enough hospital beds during the phased return to normalcy," Moon was quoted as saying by presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.
The President vowed to stabilize the current situation through the newly imposed measures, while providing small business owners with sufficient compensation for their losses, according to Park.
However, medical experts believe that these "belated" regulations may not be able to curb the current virus spread.
"The effect of the measures will be small. They won't drastically slow down the spread until the year-end. Things may get worse given the cold winter weather and the increasing cases of the Omicron variant," said Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease expert at Korea University Guro Hospital.
"The country's COVID-19 situation has already reached the tipping point," he said. "Tough measures should have been introduced a couple of weeks ago when daily caseloads were under 5,000."
The expert criticized that although frontline medical workers and infectious disease experts have been calling on the government to put an emergency brake on its "return to normalcy" strategy, the administration's indecisiveness has led to the surge in critically ill patients and record-high death tolls.
Eom Joong-sik, a professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Medical Center, expressed the view that the government should have introduced tougher restrictions.
"In order to contain the spread in a short period of time, stronger measures are needed to restrict people from engaging in social and religious gatherings," he said during an interview with local radio CBS. He suggested that the government should impose lockdown-level measures, such as forcing all multiuse facilities to close after 6 p.m.
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| Students at an elementary school in Gwangju receive COVID-19 tests following infections at the school, Thursday. Yonhap |
The strengthened measures have provoked a strong backlash from small business owners and the self-employed, as the tightened regulations will negatively affect their businesses during the end-of-year party season.
"The government has once again shifted its responsibility to self-employed people," read a statement released by a coalition of small business owners. Demanding proper compensation for their financial loss, they warned of a possible massive rally in downtown Seoul, Dec. 22.
