보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Current mandatory 7-day isolation for confirmed patients will remain
확진자 격리의무 현행 7일 유지

 

PRESS RELEASE

June 17, 2022

 

On May 20, the government announced its plan to maintain mandatory isolation and reassess COVID-19-related developments in four weeks (June 20) to decide whether to shift the policy toward voluntary isolation as part of the nation’s post-Omicron response plan.

 

Through consultation with the Expert Task Force and the Advisory Committee on Infectious Disease Risk Management over the last four weeks, the government has established a set of criteria for isolation requirement transition and evaluated the COVID-19 situation in reaching its decision to keep the mandatory 7-day isolation in place.

 

However, in consideration of volatile COVID-19 trends, a periodic re-evaluation will be conducted every four weeks to review whether to shift the policy toward voluntary isolation.

 

First, the government has established core and auxiliary indicators to assess COVID-19-related developments by reflecting the opinions of the Expert TF.

 

The number of deaths and the case fatality rate are set as the core indicators to compare with those of influenza, which is a similar respiratory infectious disease.

 

The auxiliary indicators include COVID-19 forecasts, the number of excess deaths, the emergence of new variants, and the nation’s medical capacity to respond to public health emergencies, and both types of indicators are used for qualitative evaluation.

 

According to the comprehensive evaluation of COVID-19 trends using the confirmed indicators, the pandemic situation has maintained continuous improvement but slightly missed the threshold for quarantine transition.

 

Based on the opinions of experts, the government has decided to continue the 7-day isolation requirement to keep COVID-19-related developments under control, such as the number of deaths, and ensure a smooth transition into the nation’s vaccination campaign in the second half of this year.

 

(Potential Resurgence) Currently, the number of confirmed cases continues to decrease, but the governmental forecasts caution against the risk of resurgence of waves of COVID-19 once the isolation requirement is lifted.

 

(Vaccination Campaign) It is necessary to curb any increase in the number of COVID-19 cases until the launch of the vaccination campaign in the second half of this year to maximize the benefits of immunization.

 

(High Contagiousness) The government also considered in its decision the fact that maintaining the 7-day isolation requirement helps contain any resurgence of new COVID-19 cases given the virus shedding and incubation period.

 

(Cost Effectiveness) In addition, the government took into account that the damage incurred by the removal of mandatory isolation can be measured with clarity, such as a predictable increase in the number of deaths, while it is relatively difficult to quantify the benefits of lifting the isolation requirement.

 

The government will continuously monitor core and auxiliary indicators, and conduct a review whether to shift the policy toward voluntary isolation every four week.

 

However, when relevant indicators satisfy the threshold for transition, even before the next round of evaluation, the government will comprehensively review the situation and determine whether to shift from mandatory isolation to voluntary isolation.

 

// For inquiries contact Media Relations, Ministry of Health and Welfare

044-202-2047 or fairytale@korea.kr

 

 

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