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| A platform at Sindorim station in Seoul is crowded with commuters during the morning rush hour, Friday. Yonhap |
'4th wave will be harder to curb than previous ones'
By Lee Hyo-jin
The government has imposed its toughest level of social distancing measures in Seoul and its surrounding areas starting Monday to tackle a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seoul, the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and the port city of Incheon to the west will be placed under Level 4 distancing, the highest in the new distancing system, from Monday until July 25, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday.
Medical experts said the stringent quarantine regulations may prevent the number of daily infections from expanding further.
But at the same time, they believe the current wave of infections will be trickier to contain than previous surges, citing several factors such as the presence of the Delta variant, and increased travel during the summer vacation season.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,316 new cases for Thursday, including 1,236 local transmissions, raising the total caseload to 164,028.
This marked the highest daily tally since the coronavirus outbreak started here in January last year, beating the record of 1,275 set the previous day. This is the first time the number has stayed above 1,200 for three-consecutive days.
Against this backdrop, the health authorities have decided to tighten the distancing level to the highest notch for the Seoul metropolitan area, where around 80 percent of infections are being reported.
Under Level 4, private gatherings of up to four people are allowed until 6 p.m., after which only two people are allowed. Eateries, cafes and bars are allowed to remain open until 10 p.m., but the operations of nighttime entertainment facilities are banned.
School classes will be switched online, while participants in events such as weddings and funerals will be strictly limited to immediate family and relatives. In addition, in-person religious services will be banned and demonstrations are allowed only in the form of one-person protests.
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| Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol speaks during a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul, Friday. Yonhap |
The government also decided to hold off incentive programs offered to vaccinated individuals, such as waivers on face mask requirements and exemptions from headcounts in private gatherings.
Announcing such measures, Health Minister Kwon Deok-choel urged public participation and cooperation "in tackling what appears to be the last hurdle toward the goal of achieving herd immunity in the latter half of the year."
Medical experts said the "semi-lockdown" measures could bring down daily caseloads, but it will be very difficult to tackle the current wave of infections in a short period of time.
"As person-to-person contacts are deeply limited under Level 4, it may be able to prevent the daily caseloads from increasing further," Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease specialist in Korea University Guro Hospital, told The Korea Times.
"But it won't go down drastically," he said. "The current situation is more serious than previous waves of infections seen last year. In particular, I'm concerned that the government is still downplaying the Delta variant, when it is a matter of time before it becomes the dominant strain."
Kim also expressed concerns about a "balloon effect" of infections spreading from the Seoul metropolitan area to other parts of the country. "A lot of people will travel to other regions in the summer vacation period. Also, we've already seen how young people in the capital area travel to nearby cities like Cheonan, Asan, and Chuncheon where less-stringent restrictions are imposed on entertainment establishments," he said.
Chon Eun-mi, a professor of respiratory medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital said, "The government may need to implement stronger lockdown measures if the new rules fail to bring the situation under control within two weeks."
Following the health ministry's announcement, President Moon Jae-in convened a meeting with officials including the heads of local governments in the Seoul metropolitan area Monday to conduct a special inspection on quarantine measures.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has announced that all kindergartens and schools in the greater Seoul area will switch to remote learning from July 14 until July 25. But it reaffirmed its plan to resume in-person classes starting in the fall semester.
"During the remaining 40 days until the beginning of the next semester, we will make every effort to strengthen quarantine measures in schools through close cooperation with the health authorities and regional education offices," said Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae.
