The government believes changes to quarantine strategies are necessary in preparation for a mass spread of the omicron variant.

In a Monday briefing, senior health official Son Young-rae said relevant discussions are in the early stages. He said omicron's transmissibility, effect on critical illness and vaccine protection will be analyzed before deciding on what strategies would be best moving forward.

Another health official Park Hyang said that authorities are predicting fast transmission and a huge spike in case numbers, so talks are underway to diversify testing methods accordingly.

Son said officials assess omicron to be less dangerous than delta but it could also be otherwise, noting ongoing efforts to determine the risk level. 

He explained that even if critical cases are down by half, if the overall caseload doubles, the resulting damage would be the same.