The government plans to focus on reducing critical COVID-19 cases and deaths while enforcing social distancing next year.

Such plans were announced during a joint 2022 policy briefing by the ministries of health, interior, drug safety and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Thursday.

In order to resume the transition into living with the virus once the latest resurgence slows down, social distancing guidelines will be determined in accordance with the ICU occupancy rate, variants and vaccination rate.

Vaccination pass requirements will gradually ease starting at places with low density and low risk for infection. 

Up to 300 medical facilities will be recruited to administer at-home treatment, while the government will add six-thousand-900 more beds for critical patients by next month for a total of 24-thousand-702.

Officials expect booster shots to be complete within the first quarter of next year. Two-point-six trillion won will be injected to secure 90 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.