The government is set to lower South Korea’s COVID-19 crisis level following the World Health Organization's(WHO) decision last Friday to end the global health emergency it declared for the pandemic more than three years ago.

According to a quarantine official on Sunday, a decision on the alert downgrading will be made this week, adding that they will also discuss whether to supplement the existing post-pandemic roadmap by taking into account the WHO decision. 

After collecting the opinions of experts via an advisory committee meeting, and carrying out a comprehensive analysis of related situations based on the WHO’s decision at a crisis assessment meeting, health authorities plan to lower the COVID-19 alert level from “serious” to “caution.”

In March, the government announced a three-phase plan to end the pandemic-induced emergency, the first of which involves the adjustment of the crisis level from “serious” to “caution,” adding that a decision on the first-phase shift would be made in May.   

The government expects the second-phase adjustment, concerning the lowering of the infectious disease grade for COVID-19, will be made in July, and the third and final level, concerning the declaration of COVID-19 as an endemic disease, will be made in the first half of next year.