S.Korea lifts outdoor mask mandate, incoming gov’t concerned

A girl carrying a masks, amid the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) pandemic, adjusts her make-up at a Han river park in Seoul, South Korea, April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL, April 29 (Reuters) – South Korea mentioned on Friday it’ll raise an out of doors face masks mandate subsequent week within the nation’s newest step to ease COVID-19 restrictions, regardless of opposition from the incoming authorities which labelled the choice “untimely”.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum mentioned the choice was made as the federal government may “not look away” from the inconveniences skilled by its residents when the nation’s virus state of affairs was stabilising.

Persons are nonetheless required to put on masks at occasions with 50 attendants or extra, comparable to at rallies, concert events and sports activities stadiums, Kim mentioned.

South Korea reported 50,568 new coronavirus circumstances on Friday, nicely down from the height of greater than 620,000 a day in mid-March.

The choice got here simply days forward of newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration on Could 10 and regardless of his workforce’s opposition, prompting them to right away specific regrets and issues over the announcement.

“The transition workforce agrees with pushing for the lifting of mask-wearing mandate as a part of efforts to return to regular life, however we’ve careworn a number of instances that eradicating the out of doors masks mandate at this level could be untimely,” a spokesperson for Yoon’s workforce, Hong Kyung-hee, advised a briefing.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the top of Yoon’s transition workforce, had mentioned earlier this week that the brand new authorities will think about going mask-free outdoor round end-Could.

South Korea has already scrapped most of its pandemic-related precautions, together with a midnight curfew on eating places and different companies. learn extra

The nation has largely managed to restrict deaths and significant circumstances via widespread vaccination, and it has scaled again the aggressive tracing and containment efforts that made it a mitigation success story from many of the first two years of the pandemic.

Almost 87% of South Korea’s 52 million inhabitants are totally vaccinated, with 65% having additionally had a booster, in line with the Korea Illness Management and Prevention Company information.

Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Modifying by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Lincoln Feast

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