Amid concerns over a possible hike in new COVID-19 cases due to the highly infectious variant, omicron, the government is moving to change COVID-19 testing methods and replace polymerase chain reaction(PCR) tests with self-testing for many of those showing no symptoms. 

Lee Ki-il, a senior official of the state vaccination task force, said in a media briefing on Friday that coronavirus cases with high chances of infection will be subject to PCR tests as before. 

As for those without symptoms, however, he said priorities will be adjusted and the government will try to introduce self-testing kits for them for faster testing procedures. 

The move comes amid speculation that the omicron, which is less likely to cause hospitalization than the delta but twice or three times more infectious, will dominate in South Korea in several weeks. 

Lee said the omicron currently accounts for eight-point-eight percent of the whole COVID-19 strains, but is expected to dominate all other variants in the nation by the end of February.