Starting tomorrow, quarantine passes for private schools, reading rooms, museums, cinemas, marts, etc. will be lifted.

The quarantine pass (inoculation certificate/voice confirmation system) for facilities such as tutoring schools, reading rooms, museums, movie theaters, large marts, and department stores with low risk of transmission of COVID-19 will be released from tomorrow (18th).

However, considering the high percentage of 12-18 year olds, we decided to continue applying the youth quarantine pass.

According to the government's original plan, the youth quarantine pass will be implemented from March.

The government held a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters today at the government complex in Sejong and announced that it would release quarantine passes for six facilities, including private academies.

Deok-cheol Kwon, the 1st deputy head of the Central Division (Minister of Health and Welfare), said in a remark, "The government plans to release the quarantine pass for facilities that can wear masks at all times and have little saliva discharge activity."

The facilities for which the quarantine pass is released include: ▲ reading room, study cafe, ▲ library, ▲ museum, art gallery, science center, ▲ large-scale stores such as department stores and hypermarkets, ▲ private institute, ▲ movie theater, and performance hall.

Among them, it was considered that reading rooms, study cafes, libraries, museums, art galleries, and science centers are facilities that wear masks and are less likely to discharge saliva.

However, in order to maintain wearing a mask at all times, eating in the facility is still restricted.

Department stores and marts have withdrawn the quarantine pass in consideration of the fact that they always wear masks, produce less saliva, and are essential facilities for daily life.

However, restaurants and cafes inside department stores and marts will be managed separately because the quarantine pass is applied.

Eating and soliciting activities such as tastings and tastings in these facilities are also restricted.

The quarantine pass will be released only if the academy can wear a mask at all times.

Schools in areas where it is difficult to wear a mask or generate a lot of saliva, such as wind instruments, singing, and smoke, maintain a quarantine pass.

In the process of immediate appeal against the court's decision to suspend the quarantine pass for private institutes, the government said that it would actively explain the need to maintain the quarantine pass for some private academies in the teaching field.

Movie theaters and performance halls have also lifted the quarantine pass in consideration of the fact that if you restrict eating, you can wear a mask at all times and there is less activity to generate saliva.

Performances held in non-regular venues with only 50 or more people (other than those registered under the Performance Act) have a risk of shouting shouts and slogans, and there is a problem that quarantine management is difficult, so we continue to apply the quarantine pass.

Except for the facilities that have been released this time, 11 high-risk facilities such as entertainment facilities, indoor sports facilities, singing practice rooms, bathhouses, restaurants and cafes, PC rooms, and party rooms continue to maintain the quarantine pass.

Deputy Director Kwon explained, "Now, compared to December (last year) when the quarantine pass was expanded, the scale of the epidemic has decreased and the medical capacity has increased." I did.

He added, "The conflicting judgments of the courts have also caused confusion between regions, so maintenance is necessary."

The 4th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court decided on the 14th to suspend the quarantine pass for teenagers and large marts and department stores in Seoul. .

The government said that although the number of confirmed cases among adolescents aged 12 to 18 is decreasing, "the application of the quarantine pass is necessary" in that the proportion of the total number of confirmed cases is maintained at more than 25%.

The government expected that "the court's decision on the application of the youth quarantine pass will be different as we have excluded learning facilities from the quarantine pass and applied the quarantine pass to high-risk facilities that are not essential for learning."

The government said, "This quarantine pass adjustment is not a permanent measure, but a temporary measure adjusted according to the quarantine and epidemic conditions."

The government will also promptly decide and announce system improvements regarding the scope of exceptions to the quarantine pass and penalties.

In the case of the imposition of fines, we plan to revise the relevant guidelines and laws in the direction of levying only those who intentionally violate the quarantine pass in order to ease the burden on facility operators to check the quarantine pass.