South Korea will lift all its physical distancing restrictions, the government announced on Friday, except the wearing of masks indoors, as cases of Covid-19 due to the Omicron variant are on the decline.

“The midnight curfew” for businesses and gatherings limited to 10 people “will be lifted from Monday,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced.

The move marks the end of two years of tight restrictions due to the pandemic, which have strained small businesses, and hints at a return to normalcy in South Korea.

A favorable context

Mask-wearing, however, will remain mandatory indoors “for a considerable period of time”, authorities said, adding that they could lift the requirement to wear masks outdoors in two weeks, if the number of cases continues to fall. .

This measure “for a long period is “inevitable” in order to prevent another resurgence of cases, added Kim Boo-kyum.

The context for the lifting of restrictions in South Korea seems favorable: the country has overcome the epidemic wave caused by the Omicron variant, and the number of daily cases fell below 100,000 last week, after reaching a peak of more than 620,000 daily cases in mid-March.

More than 86% of the 51 million South Koreans have been fully vaccinated, with the majority also receiving a booster dose. About 20,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the country since the start of the pandemic, a mortality rate of 0.13%, one of the lowest in the world.

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