The government decided to keep the distance between the 2.5th phase of the metropolitan area and the second phase of the nationwide, which was scheduled to end on the 28th, until the end of the special quarantine measures during the year-end and New Year, on January 3, next year. At the moment, it was decided not to take the step 3 upgrade.
Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun said at the Corona 19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting on the 27th, “The special measures we are already implementing include stronger quarantine measures than the 3rd step of distancing.” In addition, some of the rules related to restaurants and cafes, which are causing confusion in the field, were reorganized. Unlike cafes in the past, fast food restaurants that have been able to eat beverages ordered in-store have decided to allow only packaging and delivery in the same way as cafes when ordering only coffee, beverages, and desserts. In addition, rules for prohibiting sitting in unmanned cafe stores and gatherings at hold’em pubs, which were applied only to the metropolitan area, will be expanded nationwide.
It is determined that the government will finally decide whether to upgrade to the third stage after observing the performance of the special quarantine measures during the year-end and New Year holidays. Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Accident Recovery Headquarters, said at a regular briefing on the 25th, “We are cautious about the prospect of going down after next week.” It is unusually accepted that the quarantine authorities, which have always emphasized distance, mentioned the decline.
The judgment that even if the government took the step 3 upgrade, it would be difficult to break the spread of the current 3rd pandemic, it was also a factor that delayed the 3rd step upgrade. Professor Ki Moran of the National Cancer Center said, “Some say’short and thick’ super-strong quarantine should be implemented through the three-stage upgrade. Even if it is upgraded to the third stage, the number of patients is expected to be around 700 after two weeks.” On the other hand, Jeong Ki-seok, a professor of respiratory medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, who was the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out that “maintaining the 2.5 stage means that the government will endure the continuous double-digit deaths to prevent economic damage.
Meanwhile, on that day, the party administration announced that it had held a high-ranking party political council in the National Assembly and decided to start vaccinating against Corona 19 from February next year. President Roh Young-min, president of the presidential secretary, said, “Countries around the world will start vaccination for the general public in the second quarter of next year. We will also start vaccination for the general public at the same time.”
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