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| A woman wearing a mask passes by an electric board displaying the number of daily COVID-19 cases at Seoul Station, Thursday. Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The government is considering lifting the mask mandate for public transportation soon, as COVID-19 infection numbers have continued decreasing in recent weeks.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Thursday that health authorities have been keenly monitoring the situation after most of the indoor mask-wearing rules were lifted on Jan. 30.
The authorities also consulted with experts about the possibility of further lifting the remaining rules, beginning with the rule for public transportation.
"The announcement about the timing will be made sometime next week," the official said.
Last May, Korea lifted its outdoor mask rule in a major step toward supporting a return to normality.
Then on Jan. 30 this year, the government lifted most of the rules for mask-wearing indoors, allowing people to visit most places, including schools, kindergartens and gyms, without masks.
Nonetheless, masks remain mandatory at hospitals and pharmacies and on public transportation.
Officials noted that a number of experts expressed positive opinions about lifting the mask mandate on public transportation, with some citing that a number of people are still wearing masks even though most indoor mask-wearing rules have been lifted.
According to the KDCA data, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported between Feb. 26 and March 4 decreased by 7 percent to 65,539 from the previous week.
The number of seriously ill patients also fell by 21.1 percent to 150 during the period.
Based on the improved figures in recent weeks, the KDCA assessed the degree of risk of the pandemic as "low" for the seventh consecutive week.
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