Seoul

South Korea plans to phase out virtually all of its coronavirus restrictions, except for a mask mandate, starting next week, ending the curbs on business and social life that it has maintained in some form for two years.

As of Monday (Apr 18), restaurants and bars, which currently must close by midnight, will be allowed to operate 24 hours a day, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Friday. Size restrictions will be removed for events like weddings and rallies, which have been capped at 299 attendees, and for private social gatherings, which have been limited to 10 people.

Starting on Apr 25, Kim said, eating and drinking will again be allowed at movie theaters, indoor sports facilities and religious institutions. In addition, he said, many hospital beds that have been reserved for Covid patients will be returned to general use.

The Health Ministry also said Friday that a 7-day quarantine requirement for people who test positive for the coronavirus would end in late May, though isolation would still be recommended.

In 2 weeks, Kim said, the government will consider ending its outdoor mask mandate, given the "relatively low risk" of outdoor transmission. But the mask mandate for indoor public spaces will remain, he said. "It's inevitable that we'll have to keep wearing a mask indoors for a long time," Kim said.

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South Korea first imposed coronavirus restrictions in March 2020, applying them to churches and some industries where the risk of infection was considered high. A wave of infections driven by the BA.2 omicron subvariant has been ebbing in recent weeks; on Friday, the health ministry reported an average of 160,191 daily cases over the past seven days, down from 404,998 about a month ago.

South Korea has largely managed to limit deaths and critical cases through widespread vaccinations, and scaled back its once-aggressive tracing and containment efforts.

Nearly 87 per cent of the country's 52 million population are fully vaccinated, with 64 per cent having also received booster shots, according to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency data.

On Wednesday, the government announced its plan to expand the rollout of second Covid-19 booster shot for people over 60. NYT, REUTERS