NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

Prime minister Han Duck-soo chaired a virus response meeting and announced plans to set a criteria within this month to objectively assess the quarantine situation in order to determine whether to lift the indoor mask mandate when conditions are met. He also laid out a road map saying a final decision will be reached during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters sometime this month following open debates and discussions by the advisory committee. He added the decision will take into consideration trends in daily infections, critical cases and deaths. On Friday, South Korea reported 62-thousand-734 new COVID-19 cases, up by some 9,000 from a week ago.
Hyundai Motor says its Ioniq 5 model has won the "imported car of the year" honor in Japan hosted by the country's Car of the Year committee. Car of the Year Japan is awarded to the winner chosen from the ten best new cars of that year selected by vote. The winner is picked through a final vote and results of a test drive demonstration. Ioniq 5 competed against BMW's iX, the Land Rover Range Rover and others. It marks the first time a Korean brand has won the Japanese honor.