NEW DISTANCING MEASURES TO BE ANNOUNCED

[Anchor Lead]

The government has a lot to think about as it gets ready to announce a set of modified social distancing measures due to start next week. Authorities worry about overloading the medical system once the disease control regulations are relaxed, but cannot ignore the difficulties of small businesses. The government plans to announce new measures tomorrow after hearing from all areas.

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​This barbecue restaurant in Seoul is completely empty with not a single customer to be found. Although the restaurant owner hopes for eased social distancing measures, he is worried that a rising number of confirmed cases would result in an extension of the current distancing level.

[Soundbite] Song Hee-jin(Restaurant Owner) : "It’s meaningless to set the closing time at 10 or 11 p.m.. The government should abolish these distancing measures that force small businesses to make sacrifices. People have varying opinions about relaxing social distancing measures."

[Soundbite] Jeong Jae-eun(Seoul Resident) : "I think it’s better to ease the capacity and business hour restrictions gradually in line with the changes in the number of cases."

[Soundbite] Lee Se-hun(Goyang Resident) : "I think we’re already living concurrently with COVID-19. I hope the regulations would be relaxed further."

Currently, private gatherings are limited to six people and businesses are mandated to close at 9 p.m. The government is thinking about partially easing these rules. However, experts project that the spike in cases would lead to a surge in critically ill patients two or three weeks later. The ICU bed availability rate, which had fallen to the 10% range, has already increased to 27%. The government has a tough problem in its hand as there are those who believe that relaxing measures is premature and those who prioritize people’s financial difficulties, with neither side budging from their positions.

[Soundbite] Kim Boo-kyum(Prime Minister) : "We must take into account in our decision both the damages to people’s livelihoods and the ongoing spread of the omicron variant."

The government plans to convene a meeting today to hear opinions of varying sectors before announcing modified measures tomorrow.