Number Of COVID-19 Cases Decreased, Social Distancing Policy In South Korea Loosened

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JAKARTA - South Korea (South Korea) extended its social distancing policy for 16 days on Sunday, April 19, but offered slightly lax rules for churches and sports centers. This is because the COVID-19 cases in South Korea have decreased, namely to eight new COVID-19 cases in the past two days, the lowest in two months. Five of them are imported case.

The slightly relaxed guidelines mean high-risk places like churches will face looser restrictions. Meanwhile, sports events such as the popular Korean Baseball Organization League (KBO) can continue without an audience.

"The safest is to keep doing intensive social distancing, but it is not realistically easy. We need to find a middle ground," South Korean Prime Minister (PM) Chung Sye-kyun told a televised meeting of government officials.

"If we can maintain stable management at current levels, we will shift to 'routine social distancing' starting May 6th," added PM Chung.

Health authorities say these conditions will allow the economy to reopen, while maintaining guidelines on disinfection and preventing the spread of the virus in everyday life.

In March, South Korea issued an administrative order highly recommending religious facilities, indoor sports and entertainment such as nightclubs to suspend operations. The regulations have now relaxed a little, allowing these facilities to restart operations as long as they adhere to disinfection guidelines.

"The government will evaluate the risk level every two weeks and adjust the level of social distancing if necessary," said South Korean Health Minister Park Neung-hoo.

The latest figures for COVID-19 are the first time in single digits since February 18, when South Korea reported a significant spike. Health authorities say the downward trend in COVID-19 cases is good news, but have issued a note warning about other predictions.

"We are constantly vigilant to make sure we don't miss any new infections, or whether the epidemic can be spread by patients without symptoms or mild infections," KCDC chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said at a briefing.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said South Korea's progress gave hope that COVID-19 could be contained in other parts of the world. Earlier this year, South Korea had the largest number of COVID-19 cases outside China. But now South Korea can reduce the number of cases drastically.

"The government will prepare for a new everyday life and a new 'post-COVID' world order with the unified power of citizens," said President Moon Jae-in.

President of the United States (US) Donald Trump spoke to the President of South Korea on Saturday, April 18 and expressed appreciation for South Korea's assistance in procuring COVID-19 tests for the US.