The national indoor mask mandate on Jan. 30 was lifted nationwide 27 months after its adoption. Shown is a gym in Yullyang-dong neighborhood of Cheongwon-gu District in Cheongju, Chungcheongnam-do Province, where people are working out without wearing masks. (Yonhap News)
By Lee Jihae
Indoor mask wearing from Jan. 30 was revised from a requirement to a recommendation.
Those not wearing a mask indoors at a public facility except under certain circumstances, such as when riding a mode of public transportation or visiting a hospital, no longer face a fine.
The government's mask mandate that day was lifted for the first time in 27 months since its adoption in October 2020 amid the spread of COVID-19.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said mask wearing indoors from Jan. 30 would be an individual choice.
The government said it could proceed further with "recovery of daily life" due to the end of the peak of the pandemic's winter resurgence and the continuous decline of the coronavirus stabilizing the number of deaths and those critically ill from COVID-19.
With the scrapping of the rule, people do not need to wear masks at multipurpose facilities such as hypermarkets and malls and educational or child care centers such as kindergartens, daycare centers and academic institutes.
Boarding platform at public transit venues such as subway and bus stations and airports, athletic facilities such as gyms and swimming pools, and senior citizen centers also no longer require mask wearing indoors.
But wearing a mask is still required inside medical facilities, pharmacies and infection-prone venues and when riding public transportation.
Infection-prone venues include skilled nursing facilities, long-term medical care institutions, mental health facilities and welfare centers for disabled people.
Modes of public transportation include buses, trains, subways, passenger ships, chartered buses, taxis, aircraft, and kindergarten and school buses.
The government last year lifted the mandate for wearing masks outdoors in two phases on May 2 and Sept. 26.
jihlee08@korea.kr
