Starting from early August, the government will begin the second phase of its risk management roadmap for COVID-19. The photo shows the departure area of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport on the morning of July 20, bustling with tourists without protective masks. (Yonhap News)

By Israa Mohamed

As early as next month, the government will readjust its quarantine management level for COVID-19.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) on July 23, the government will begin the second phase of its COVID-19 risk level management roadmap in early August.

This second phase aims to downgrade the classification of the coronavirus from the current Class Two to Class Four, the same level as influenza. For Class Two diseases that require containment, those who become infected must report to the authorities within 24 hours because of the possibility of spreading it to others. Diseases in the Class Four group require sample monitoring to check for possible spread.

Once COVID-19 is downgraded to Class Four, the focus of management will move from total inspections to sample monitoring of positive cases. Counting the number of positive cases will also be no longer carried out. The new system requires collection of clinical information of COVID-19 positive cases such as gender, age and symptoms in order to find out how the disease has spread and the trending pattern of the disease.

The indoor mask mandate at infection-prone venues such as hospitals or higher level medical institutions and inpatient facilities such as nursing homes will be lifted, although wearing masks is still recommended in these facilities. The existing five-day quarantine for positive cases will, however, remain.

The KCDC will host an advisory committee on national infectious disease risk responses before it fully implements the second phase of the roadmap.

When the implementation is carried out, only the third phase of roadmap -- the "endemic" phase -- will remain.

ess8@korea.kr