The mask mandate that had remained for hospitals has been lifted in line with adjustments to the nation’s COVID-19 crisis level.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced that such a mandate was removed after the crisis level for COVID-19 was revised down from “alert” to the lowest level of “attention” on the four-tier scale on Wednesday.

The latest move came eleven months after the national COVID-19 crisis level was downgraded from “serious” to “alert.”

With the downgrade, wearing masks at hospitals and mandatory PCR testing for nursing homes and other high-risk facilities have become a recommendation. 

Quarantine mandates were also eased from Wednesday. Infected patients will be advised to quarantine for 24 hours after main symptoms, including coughing and a fever, have improved. Initially, infected patients were recommended to quarantine for five days.