South Korea lifts outdoor mask mandate

Seoul: South Korea on Friday decided to lift outdoor face mask mandate—starting next week— in the country’s latest step to ease COVID-19 related restrictions, despite opposition from the incoming government which labelled the decision “premature”.    

As per reports, the decision was made as the government could “no longer look away” from the inconveniences experienced by its citizens when the country’s virus situation was stabilizing. 

However, Koreans are still required to wear masks at events with 50 attendants or more, such as at rallies, concerts and sports stadiums. 

The Asian country reported 50,568 new coronavirus cases on Friday, well down from the peak of more than 620,000 a day in mid-March. 

The decision came just days ahead of newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration on May 10 and despite his team’s opposition, prompting them to immediately express regrets and concerns over the announcement.

Earlier this week, the head of Yoon’s transition team, had said that the new government will consider going mask-free outdoors around end-May.

South Korea has already scrapped most of its pandemic-related precautions, including a midnight curfew on restaurants and other businesses.

The country has largely managed to limit deaths and critical cases through widespread vaccination, and it has scaled back the aggressive tracing and containment efforts that made it a mitigation success story from most of the first two years of the pandemic.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency data (KDCPA), nearly 87% of South Korea’s 52 million population are fully vaccinated, with 65% having also had a booster.