The country's disease control chief forecast the latest COVID-19 transmission to peak next month, suggesting discussions on lifting the indoor mask mandate could take place after the Lunar New Year holiday in late January.

At a press briefing on Friday, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) Commissioner Jee Young-mee said that while talks on lifting the mandate could be held during a two-week monitoring period in late January, nothing is definite.

This comes as health authorities on Friday announced a plan to transition from requiring indoor mask-wearing to recommending it, without giving a timetable.

Instead, they said daily cases as well as the rise in critical cases and deaths should show signs of slowing down before talks on the mandate are held.

The authorities cited signs of the virus' resurgence, transmission of the BN.1 variant and a rise in the reinfection rate as factors that led to their decision.