The government has decided to gradually downgrade the nationwide indoor mask mandate to a recommendation after reviewing infection trends and risk factors concerning different facilities.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said in a briefing on Friday that the decision was made based on opinions from experts and consultations between the government and ruling camp.

The government will take into account the stability of daily COVID-19 cases, a reduction in critical cases and deaths, stable medical response capabilities and immunity within high-risk groups, and execute the first stage of lifting the indoor mask mandate when they are able to check off two of the four criteria.

The mandate will remain in place for the time being, however, for hospitals, pharmacies, public transportation and high-risk facilities, such as nursing homes and welfare centers, to mitigate infection among high-risk groups.

The government said the second stage of adjustment will involve completely lifting the indoor mask mandate for indoor facilities subject to the requirement and recommending the public to wear masks on rare occasions.

Authorities assessed that the latest resurgence in COVID-19 cases will most likely remain at manageable levels, noting that the scale and pace of a resurgence in cases are showing signs of waning on the back of active vaccination efforts and the two previous waves of infections.

The government was quick to add, however, that it needs to confirm infection peaks, citing an increase in the number of daily cases starting this month after remaining nearly unchanged at the end of last month, while the number of deaths and patients in critical care are steadily on the rise.