A court in Busan has dismissed a petition by a civic group calling for the suspension of the mandatory wearing of masks indoors amid moves by some regional governments to defy the national health authorities’ quarantine policy and lift the remaining masking rules in their jurisdictions. 

The Busan District Court said on Tuesday that it had turned down the call to suspend the indoor masking mandate. 

Filed by 30 members of acivic group calling themselves the People Alliance Against Vaccine Pass, the petition argued masking created significant problems with public health and children’s linguistic development, and also cited the lifting of indoor masking in many other countries. 

However, the court stressed that the pandemic caused many casualties and that prudence was needed in judging the effectiveness of health policy as this affects the lives of many people. 

The civic group’s move came after Daejeon informed the state health authorities of its plan to invoke a municipal administrative order to lift indoor mask restrictions in the city. South Chungcheong Province Office is also mulling a similar move; while Busan is reportedly reviewing the measure internally but has yet to announce a related plan.