Gov't to extend quarantine mandate for COVID-19 patients for 4 more weeks: PM

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo presides over a coronavirus meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the Government Complex in Seoul, June 17. Yonhap

The government will extend the current seven-day quarantine mandate for COVID-19 patients for four more weeks because rolling it back could accelerate a resurgence of the virus, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday.

The current level of virus spread is within the country's capacity to manage, but infection concerns linger and the number of COVID-19 deaths has not been sufficiently reduced, Han said in a virus response meeting.

"If the quarantine requirement is eased, the timing of resurgence can be brought forward and the scale of damage can be expanded," Han said.

The government plans to reassess the infection situation in another four weeks and will decide then whether to lift the quarantine mandate, Han said. (Yonhap)