Korea has officially lifted its COVID-19 crisis alert, which had been maintained for 2,378 days.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Sunday it would lift the "attention" level of the COVID-19 infectious disease disaster crisis alert at a Cabinet meeting.
The crisis alert was issued even before the country's first confirmed case emerged on January 3, 2020. At the time, no one knew how great a threat COVID-19 would become. After the first patient was found, the alert was raised from "caution" through "alert" to the highest level, "serious," on February 23 that year.
Confirmed cases surged across the country, and there was a time when Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province were called the epicenters of the disease. Through social distancing, vaccinations, and mask-wearing mandates even in midsummer, the public spent more than six years under the threat of the infectious disease.
The situation began to stabilize in 2023. As the decline in confirmed cases became clear and isolation mandates were lifted, the KDCA lowered the crisis alert to "alert" on June 1 that year. Eleven months later, on May 1, 2024, it was adjusted again to the "attention" level. The "attention" level had been maintained for two years and two months before it was finally lifted completely.
"To protect vulnerable groups during the annual summer COVID-19 outbreaks, we have continuously operated central and regional response teams," a KDCA official said. "This year, surveillance results showed low cluster infections and no unusual variants were identified."
The official added, "We conducted a risk assessment taking into account factors such as this summer's projected outbreak being less than half of last year's, and decided to lift the crisis alert."
Operation of the MERS response team will also end this month. The central MERS response team, which had been maintained for more than 11 years since the country's first MERS patient emerged on May 20, 2015, is concluding its role. At the time, MERS caused a large-scale outbreak centered on hospital infections, infecting 186 people and killing 38. Health authorities subsequently formed the central MERS response team to continue surveillance so that the nightmare would not be repeated.
Lifting the crisis alert and response teams does not mean the quarantine system will be completely relaxed. The KDCA said it will conduct constant surveillance of both COVID-19 and MERS through sentinel monitoring, tracking of overseas outbreak trends, and medical institution reporting systems. The aim is to be prepared to quickly reactivate the response system if necessary.
In fact, infectious diseases are still spreading in various parts of the world. The KDCA pointed out that emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease, Nipah virus infection, and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome continue to occur overseas this year. In particular, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on May 17 regarding the spread of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. On June 24, the first patient outside Africa also emerged in France.
The KDCA has issued an "attention" level Ebola crisis alert and formed a response team, making all-out efforts to prevent domestic entry. It has designated five African countries—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Rwanda—as priority quarantine management areas to strengthen surveillance of arrivals, while reviewing epidemiological investigations, confirmatory diagnostic testing, and patient treatment systems for rapid response in the event of domestic entry.
Over the longer term, the KDCA also announced plans to advance its infectious disease crisis management system. The idea is to divide crisis types into a "limited transmission type," for which domestic eradication is possible, and a "pandemic type," for which long-term coexistence is inevitable, and to prepare customized response strategies by category. In addition, it plans to pursue the designation of regional infectious disease centers, the advancement of a rapid vaccine and treatment development system, and the establishment of an infectious disease clinical research and analysis center.
KDCA Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan said, "To block the domestic entry and community spread of infectious diseases prevalent overseas, protecting Korean nationals staying abroad through diplomatic missions and cooperation among relevant ministries is essential." He added, "I ask for the active cooperation of related ministries to implement measures to advance the infectious disease crisis management system, which requires stable investment and continuous preparation even in normal times."
