The isolation period for COVID-19 patients will likely be shortened to five days from the current seven in early May.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced the plan on Wednesday during a COVID-19 meeting, saying that the government has produced a roadmap for the last remaining quarantine regulations.

The prime minister said that in early May, the government will decide whether to lower the COVID-19 alert level by a notch to “alert” from the highest “emergency,” which has been enforced from February 2020. 

He added that after monitoring the situation following that first phase, the government plans to switch from requiring self-isolation and mask-wearing in high-risk facilities to recommending them, while maintaining a system to protect senior citizens and other high-risk groups in the process of the switch.