Gov't to extend quarantine mandate for COVID-19 patients for 4 more weeks: PM

SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) -- The government will extend the current seven-day quarantine mandate for COVID-19 patients for four more weeks because rolling back the obligation could accelerate a resurgence of the virus, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday.

The current level of virus spread is within the country's capacity to manage, but infection concerns linger and the number of COVID-19 deaths has not sufficiently reduced, Han said in a virus response meeting.

"If the quarantine obligation is eased, the timing of resurgence can be brought forward and the scale of damage can be expanded," Han said.

The government plans to reassess the infection situation every four weeks and will decide whether to lift the quarantine mandate for COVID-19 patients, Han said.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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