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| Medical workers guide a person at a temporary COVID-19 testing center in front of Seoul Station, Wednesday. Yonhap |
1.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to come from Romania
By Jun Ji-hye
Health authorities are agonizing over whether to ease restrictions on private gatherings, aimed at curbing COVID-19 infections, for the upcoming Chuseok holiday, to allow people to hold family gatherings during one of the nation's largest and most widely celebrated holidays.
But concerns are also rising that eased rules may thwart the authorities' ongoing efforts to curb the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Millions of people usually travel across the nation to meet families and relatives during Chuseok, which runs from Sept. 18 through 22 this year.
The authorities are currently consulting with experts about ways to allow more people to gather during the holiday, considering the public sentiment that puts importance on family gatherings and ancestral rites during the holiday, as well as expectations that the rate of people who have received the first dose of a vaccine could reach about 70 percent around that time.
"Many Korean people think that paying respect to their ancestors on the occasion of the Chuseok holiday is important. We are considering that aspect, too," said Park Hyang, who oversees antivirus measures at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.
The government has held in place the toughest level of its four-tier social distancing system ― Level 4 ― in the Seoul metropolitan area, which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, with Level 3 in effect in other parts of the nation.
In the areas under Level 4, private gatherings of up to four people before 6 p.m., and gatherings of up to two people after 6 p.m., are allowed. Level 3 allows private gatherings of up to four people regardless of the time.
As the government does not permit exceptions for these rules, even for gatherings of direct family members, family gatherings during Chuseok will be subject to the restrictions unless the authorities ease them.
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| People wait at a vaccination center in Seoul's Mapo District, Wednesday, to see if they have any abnormal reactions after receiving the vaccine. Yonhap |
While the government is planning to announce its final decision Friday, concerns are being raised amid no signs of a slowdown in the ongoing wave of COVID-19 infections.
With the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant having led the fourth wave of the pandemic, new daily infections in recent weeks have been much higher than the figures around last year's Chuseok holiday.
Last year's Chuseok fell on Oct. 1, when 77 daily cases were reported, with new daily infections hovering around 100, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
But now, daily cases have stayed above 1,000 for about two months, with the figure bouncing back to over 2,000, Tuesday, as the country added 2,025 more cases.
The latest tally marked a sharp rise from 1,487 on Sunday and 1,372 on Monday, and is expected to show similar levels until the upcoming holiday.
When releasing its decision on the social distancing measures to be applied during the Chuseok holiday, Friday, the government is also expected to announce whether the current measures will be extended, as they are set to expire on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the country will receive 1.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Romania starting this week as part of a vaccine cooperation program. The European country will send 1.05 million Pfizer doses and 450,000 Moderna doses in two separate deliveries on Thursday and on Sept. 8.
"We are giving our full efforts to administer vaccines to more than 36 million people ― or 70 percent of the population ― at the earliest possible date," Lee Ki-il, a senior official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said during a briefing, Wednesday. "The vaccine supply from Romania is expected to help the country's vaccination program proceed more smoothly."
