Social distancing measures due to COVID-19 will be lifted starting on Monday, April 18th. It has been two years and one month since the introduction of the social distancing guidelines started in March 2020.

Prime Minister Kim Bu Gyeom announced on April 15th that the decision was made at a meeting of the COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the Government Complex in Seoul.

Prime Minister Kim said, "From the 18th of this month, the restrictions on the business hours of multi-use facilities, which are currently until 12 AM, and the limit on the number of private gatherings, which are allowed up to 10 people, will be lifted."

He added, "The limit on the number of events and gatherings, where up to 299 people are allowed, and religious facilities, where up to 70% of the capacity is allowed, will also be removed at the same time." 

In addition, the government has decided to allow eating and drinking in indoor multi-use facilities such as movie theaters and religious facilities from the 25th of this month. However, the guidelines for wearing masks will be maintained in the current policy but will be decided after reviewing the quarantine situation in two weeks.

While Some Korean citizens are happily welcoming the lax quarantine measures, there are many who are still worried it will cause another spike in the COVID-19 infected rates. 

Netizens commented, "Everyone had a hard time," "Everyone is tired since this was going on for over two years," "The number of infected worldwide is lower too," "I want the mask mandate to be lifted too," "This makes no sense how you can take off your mask to eat indoors but you still have to wear a mask outdoors, shouldn't it be the other way around?" and "The real mandate is lifted when masks are not allowed."

Other netizens commented, "We should all still wear masks," "Although the mandates are being lifted, we should still be careful," "It's these times that we need to be more careful instead of becoming relaxed because the mandates are lifted," "We need to keep masks on as a daily part of our lives now," and "There's still a lot of people getting infected. Why are they lifting the mandate? I think the number only decreased because less people are being tested."