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number of new corona patients stayed in the 100,000 range for two days in a row.

The number of patients in critical condition also fell below 1,000 in 38 days, but the government judged that the peak of the epidemic had completely passed and it was confirmed as a result of our coverage that most of the social distancing measures such as restrictions on the number of gatherings and business hours will be lifted from next week.

Wearing a mask will be maintained for now.



Reporter Park Soo-jin reports.



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On Thursday four weeks ago, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 fell to about 140,000 from an all-time high of 620,000.



The average daily number of confirmed cases for the past five days was 160,000, which is less than half compared to the third week of March, which peaked.



Based on this, the quarantine authorities evaluated that the peak of the epidemic had completely passed.



The death toll once again exceeds 300, but the number of critically ill patients has fallen below 1,000 for the first time in 38 days since 1,007 on the 8th of last month.



The government judges that now is the time to prepare for the recovery of daily life.



[Kwon Deok-cheol/Minister of Health and Welfare (Yesterday): We will proceed cautiously by comprehensively considering the high vaccination rate, the stability of the epidemic, and the medical response system.



] The response system will be announced tomorrow (15th).



Opinions were gathered to remove restrictions on the number of private meetings and business hours.



The limit on the number of people at weddings, gatherings and events will also disappear.



Wearing a mask remains the same.



The release of the outdoor mask was controversial until the very last minute, but we decided to discuss it again two weeks later because it was considered too early to release it.



Eating indoors, such as in movie theaters, is also permitted, but it is highly likely to be implemented after seeing the trend for about a week.



A plan to lower the current level of corona infection from level 1 to level 2 is being considered, but it is reported that the prevailing opinion is that shortening the quarantine period for confirmed patients should be cautious.



(Video editing: Kim Ho-jin, CG: Ban So-hee)