S. Korea adopts new five-level social distancing scheme

A new five-level social distancing scheme takes effect from Saturday. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said on Friday that Level 1 social distancing measures will be applied nationwide, except for Cheonan and Asan, which raised the level to 1.5 earlier on Thursday.

The daily average of new COVID-19 cases in the past week was 69.1 in the Seoul metropolitan area and 13.9 in the Chungcheong region. According to the revised scheme, Level 1 social distancing measures will be maintained when the daily average of new cases for a week is below 100 in the capital area and below 30 in other regions (below 10 in Gangwon and Jeju).

Although the nation will be placed under Level 1, some quarantine measures will be strengthened. Nine “priority” facilities (entertainment facilities, karaokes, indoor standing concert halls, door-to-door sales, cafes and restaurants) and 14 “regular” facilities (Internet cafes, wedding halls, private educational institutes, concert halls, and theaters) are required to keep entry logs and wear a mask, which were previously mandatory for some high-risk facilities.


Mee-Jee Lee image@donga.com