[Soup] "Chinese variable? We follow our timetable"... Do you take off your mask during the Lunar New Year holidays?

News summary on the way home from work, evening briefing.

The last remaining corona quarantine regulation is the obligation to wear a mask indoors, and now it seems that 'no mask' is not too far away.

Experts judged that the Chinese variable was not enough to change the domestic quarantine schedule, because the increase in new confirmed cases has clearly entered a lull.

"If the severity is reduced, discuss adjusting the indoor mask next week"

Jung Ki-seok, head of the Corona 19 Special Response Team and National Infectious Disease Crisis Response Advisory Committee, gave a briefing.

It's still cautious and has a lot of clues attached to it.

Let's move on to Director Jung's expression.

(Severe case) If we see this week when only the numbers stabilize to some extent, we can start discussing the adjustment of indoor mask duty around next week, and we can officially start.

It means that the number of severely ill patients should be stabilized prior to the discussion of adjusting the 'indoor mask', but Director Jeong explains that "there is no trend of falling severe and new severe cases among the financial resources."

The number of critically ill patients during hospitalization was 581.3 per day during the first week of January (2nd to 8th), which is similar to the 586.7 a week ago (December 26th to last 1st).

He made remarks that seemed not to worry too much about the outbreak in China.

It is not at the level of changing the schedule of discussions on adjusting the domestic mask-wearing obligation.

Fortunately, if the situation in China is currently peaking and trending down in large cities, the infection will no longer spread further.

It will fall for a while, and the number of infected people among the entrants entering our country is very small.

Yesterday (8th), only 7 people were found.

(..) Of course, if you add up all the long-term residents, the number is not small.

So, although we are careful, we still think that we can go according to the schedule we planned.

Director Jeong also said, "Most of the epidemic mutations in China are 95% of the BA.5 strain (dominant species in Korea), so it is possible to respond sufficiently with improved vaccination based on BA.4/5." 

Summarizing the words of Director Jeong, it seems that the Chinese variable was judged to be controllable.

Satisfy indoor mask release conditions

Domestic spread is slowing down.

As of 0:00 today (9th), the number of new confirmed cases increased by 19,106, 3,618 compared to the previous two days (22,724) a week ago, and on the 26th of last month (25,530) two weeks ago ), which is a decrease of 6,424 people. 

Today (9th), the number of new confirmed cases is said to be the smallest in 63 days since November 7th of last year, the beginning of the 7th epidemic.

Previously, the government announced last month that it would adjust the wearing of indoor masks as a recommendation if two or more of the four corona quarantine indicators met the standards, let's look at the standards presented at the time.

▲ Weekly patient occurrence decreased for more than 2 weeks in a row ▲ Weekly new severely ill patients decreased compared to the previous week Weekly fatality rate was less than 0.10% ▲ Can be mobilized within 4 weeks Critical care bed availability 50% or more ▲ Additional vaccination rate during winter 50% for the elderly, 60% for vulnerable facilities There are four of them.

The recent weekly number of new confirmed cases fell for the last two weeks in a row, meeting the requirements: 471,195 in the 3rd week of December, 458,709 in the 4th week of December, and 414,673 in the 1st week of January.

The utilization rate of intensive care beds has recently been around 40%, which meets the requirements. Except for the number of severely ill patients and the additional vaccination rate during the winter, the above criteria are met, so can it be said that 2.5 of the 4 conditions are met?

'No mask' decision before Lunar New Year?

Of course, the quarantine index is a reference value and is not an absolute criterion.

The government also said, "We will comprehensively review the domestic impact of new mutations and the spread of overseas infections."

However, there was no variable in China last month, when the government presented standards for adjusting the mandatory wearing of masks indoors.

After the announcement, China changed its direction from zero corona to with corona.

As the corona virus in China spread at a terrifying pace, there was great anxiety that it would enter the country, but the effect on the country is being controlled to some extent with double tests before and after entry.

So, it seems that the discussion of lifting the indoor mask duty, which has been hesitant, will begin in earnest.

Indoor mask removal will be finalized by the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters after discussions with the advisory group.

Director Jeong Ki-seok said in a briefing today (9th) that discussions could start next week, so it seems that 'indoor no mask' will be decided before the Lunar New Year.

The positive rate of entrants from China fluctuates... "It will show a decrease"

The reason why the domestic impact of Chinese variables is limited is because of quarantine regulations for entrants from China, and double surveillance is being conducted for entrants from China.

From the 2nd, it is mandatory to undergo a gene amplification (PCR) test at Incheon Airport, and from the 5th, three days later, an additional system is being implemented that requires the submission of a corona negative confirmation before boarding a flight from China, the departure point.

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