S. Korea to determine when to lift indoor mask mandate this week

The government will decide when to lift the indoor mask mandate this week, as the country is past the peak of the latest winter COVID-19 wave, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said Wednesday.

“With this winter’s COVID-19 wave past its peak, the overall virus situation is stabilizing,” Lee said during a government virus response meeting.

Taking the virus situation and other external factors into account, the government will determine when and to what extent the indoor mask mandate would be adjusted during the next virus response meeting scheduled for Friday, the minister noted.

Lee said the average daily new virus tally reached 42,938 last week, continuing the downward trend for the third consecutive week. The daily number of seriously ill patients reached 439 on average last week, the lowest point in five weeks.

The minister expressed concerns that the virus curve could take an upward turn during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, when many people travel across the nation to reunite with family members, urging unvaccinated people to get inoculated.

The government said earlier it could scrap the mask mandate in phases if at least two of four criteria are met. Those criteria include a downward trend in new infections, and critically ill cases and deaths, as well as strong medical response capabilities and a high vaccination rate among high-risk groups.

The mask mandate is the last remaining pandemic restriction.