South Korea announced Wednesday (August 23) that it would be reclassifying COVID-19 to the same category as the seasonal flu.
Authorities said the reclassification would take effect on August 31, which also meant it would discontinue the daily tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases, a practice done since the pandemic outbreak.
The Korea Herald reported COVID-19 would be relegated from class 2 - the second highest on the scale - to class 4, the lowest infectious disease category as the South Korean government has considered COVID manageable. Other class 4 diseases include the seasonal flu, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, gonorrhea, and syphilis.
In addition, subsidies like financial aid and paid vacation expenses to low-income patients will be removed, while support for COVID-19 hospitalization costs will only be covered for some people, such as severely ill patients.
The KDCA also stressed it would continue to provide free vaccinations for everyone and free medicine to the elderly.
Decreasing COVID-19 Cases
Part of the decision to lower COVID-19's class level was based on the declining number of infections and the stabilization of the quarantine situation.
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency commissioner Jee Young-mee reported the daily average of new COVID-19 infections for the week of August 13 to 19 was 41,698, marking a 16.4% decrease from the previous week's 49,893.
"For healthy people, the risk of COVID-19 has been reduced to the level of flu," Jee added. "Based on this judgment, the government has decided to downgrade the infection level of COVID-19."
COVID-19 was classified as a class 1 disease since its outbreak in 2020 and was only relegated to class 2 in 2022. Under a class 2 designation, the infection level of COVID-19 was on par with tuberculosis, chickenpox, measles, cholera, or typhoid fever and should be reported to the government within 24 hours of occurrence
No such obligation was required for level 4 diseases, but Jee stressed that people should continue to make efforts to prevent infectious diseases like frequent washing of hands and regular ventilation.
South Korea has also removed most COVID-19 restrictions, except for the mask-wearing mandate at vulnerable facilities, such as hospitals or medical institutions treating inpatients, as well as residential medical facilities with groups vulnerable to infectious diseases.
While no mask mandates are required for class 4 respiratory infectious diseases, the KDCA decided to maintain the requirement for wearing masks at vulnerable places for the time being.
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