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| A government notice urging customers to wear masks indoors at a shopping mall in Seoul taken Jan. 18. Yonhap |
Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 30,000 for the second straight day Friday as the country prepares to lift the mask mandate for most indoor spaces.
The policy will take effect Jan. 30, but it will remain in place at hospitals, pharmacies and public transportation. In May, Korea lifted the outdoor mask mandate in a major step toward regaining normalcy.
"Korea has met three out of the four criteria (in order to lift the indoor mask mandate). We believe that external risk factors are at a manageable level," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at a meeting earlier in the day on COVID-19.
The latest move came amid a downward trend in new infections, a drop in critically ill cases and deaths, and strong medical response capabilities, three key criteria in lifting the indoor mask mandate, Korea's last remaining pandemic restriction.
The government earlier said it could scrap the indoor mask mandate in phases if at least two of four criteria are met. The fourth criterion is a high vaccination rate among high-risk groups.
On Friday, Korea reported 27,408 new COVID-19 infections, including 94 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,955,366, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Friday's tally is down by some 2,000 from a day earlier and marked the lowest for any Friday since Oct. 21, when the country reported 24,730 cases.
Korea added 30 COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 33,134.
The number of critically ill patients stood at 453, down by 12 from the previous day. (Yonhap)
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