<Anchor>



Hours before the court decision, the government announced a plan to adjust the distance. Starting next week, nothing has changed, except that the number of people who can gather at one place has increased to six, and the business hours of restaurants and cafes will remain the same until 9 pm. This adjustment will be in effect for three weeks until the beginning of the month following the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.



Reporter Jeong Da-eun explains in detail.



<Reporter>



The number of people who can meet privately for three weeks from the 17th has increased to six.



This is a measure that takes into account the accumulated fatigue of the people due to reinforced distancing and the economic damage to the self-employed and small business owners.



Except for this, all other distancing measures will be extended.



Businesses such as restaurants and cafes remain open until 9 p.m., and private academies and PC rooms remain open until 10 p.m.



This is because of the analysis that extending business hours is a greater risk of infection than loosening the number of people.



The government emphasized the inevitability of extending the distance, saying that up to 30,000 confirmed cases per day at the end of next month due to the spread of Omicron mutation.



[Kim Bu-gyeom / Prime Minister: Since last week, the spread of Omicron mutation has been increasing. Two days ago, 20% of domestic confirmed patients were omicron patients, and the dominant species is on the horizon.] The



distance period was also set to 3 weeks, including the Lunar New Year holiday, instead of 2 weeks.



[Kwon Deok-cheol/Minister of Health and Welfare: (New Year’s holiday) I am most concerned that the spread of Omicron will increase and the elderly will be infected in large numbers due to the movement and meeting of a large population.]



Special quarantine measures for the Lunar New Year will also be implemented from the 20th. .



Railroad tickets are sold only for window seats and are checked for fever before boarding.



From the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, at highway rest areas, only packing is allowed and eating and drinking is prohibited.



From the 24th to the 6th of the next month, contact visits between nursing hospitals and facilities are prohibited, and non-contact visits are only available to those who have made a reservation.



The government has urged people to refrain from visiting if their parents are elderly and have not received the third dose.



(Video coverage: Park Young-il, Video editing: Choi Eun-jin)