Tag: mask mandate

mask mandate

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A medical worker posts a notice of Covid-19's impending downgrade from level two to the lowest four on the window of a testing booth at a screening clinic located in Gwangju's Buk District on Wednesday, a day before the classification change takes effect. [GWANGJU BUK DISTRICT OFFICE]

Covid patients to cough up more starting Thursday

Most people who catch Covid-19 in Korea will be forced to shoulder a greater personal burden after the virus is downgraded on Thursday, marking the end of large-scale state support and monitoring of patients.

2023.8.30

North Koreans appear without masks in a photograph of a publishing management bureau in North Hamgyong Province released by the North’s official Rodong Sinmum on Tuesday. [RODONG SINMUN]

Photos suggest North has finally lifted mask mandate

Recent images and video footage in North Korea's state media suggest the country has lifted its mask mandate as of July after years of strict Covid-19 restrictions.

2023.7.4

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President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, sends off health care workers who fought on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic after a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Thursday, where he declared a lowering of the national crisis level for Covid-19. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Korean government declares end to Covid-19 emergency

Korea declared an end to Covid-19 as a health emergency, lifting nearly all Covid-19 restrictions after three years starting June 1 and marking a de facto transition to an endemic disease.

2023.5.11

Parents register their children at Woorisoa Children's Hospital in Guro District, western Seoul on Wednesday. [YI WOO-LIM]

Common cold uncommonly common in post-pandemic Korea

As people slowly resumed their routines of the pre-pandemic era and as the country lifts its transportation mask mandates, various respiratory viruses are spreading across the country instead.

2023.4.6

A pedestrian walks half-masked in the streets of Myeong-dong in Jung District, central Seoul, on March 29. [NEWS1]

[WHY] Mandates are gone, so what's with all the masks still?

Three weeks into their freedom, Koreans still refuse to take off their masks for their own reasons. Experts wager that it may not be long before people start taking them off, but, at least for now, the mask-wearing inertia remains strong and real.

2023.4.5

People wear masks on a subway car in Seoul on Monday morning, the first day the mask mandate on public transportation was lifted. [YONHAP]

Mask makers face uncertain future in post-mandate world

Monday’s lifting of the mask mandate on public transportation is deepening the concerns of pandemic-related businesses in Korea, especially mask companies.

2023.3.21

People getting on and off of a subway at the Sindorim station in Seoul on Monday. Although the mandatory mask wearing on public transportation has been lifted, many still continues to wear them. [YONHAP]

Many continue masking up despite lifting of public transportation mask mandate

A survey by Hankook Research conducted last month showed that even with the lifting of the mask mandate, 75 percent of respondents said they would still chose to wear a mask on public transportation.

2023.3.20

Commuters wear masks on a Seoul subway train on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Korea to end public transport mask mandate next week

The mandate on wearing masks on public transportation including buses and subways in Korea will be lifted on March 20, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced Wednesday. Wearing masks in pharmacies inside...

2023.3.15

Shoppers in a book store in Seoul walk down an aisle with a sign that reminds the public to wear their masks. [YONHAP]

Indoor mask mandate may be lifted after New Year holiday

The indoor mask mandate could be lifted right after the New Year holidays, which end on Jan. 24.

2023.1.12

Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong talks on the phone ahead of meeting related to the mask mandate at the National Assembly on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

Ruling party, gov't to discuss lifting indoor mask rule

The ruling party and the government were set to discuss lifting the indoor mask mandate in a policy consulting meeting Thursday amid growing views the government will ease the country's last remaining Covid-19 restriction next month.

2022.12.22