Starting next month, the government will downgrade its national crisis level for COVID-19 by a notch to the lowest “attention” level on the four-tier scale, which will lift the mask mandate at hospitals. 

The central disaster management headquarters on the virus announced the decision on Friday following a meeting chaired by Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) Commissioner Jee Young-mee.

The KDCA cited a sharp decrease in new infections, lack of new variants that may cause a sharp rise in infections and the decrease in the fatality rate as reasons for the downgrade.

With the downgrade, the mask mandate will be lifted at high-risk facilities and hospitals, with the mandate being revised to just a recommendation. Mandatory PCR testing for nursing homes and other high-risk facilities will also be lifted. 

The government will also ease quarantine mandates. Currently, infected patients are advised to quarantine for five days, but starting in May, they are recommended to quarantine for 24 hours after the main symptoms, such as coughing and a fever, have improved.