By Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) -&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;on Thursday&nbsp;lowered its crisis level for&nbsp;COVID-19 and will&nbsp;from&nbsp;June&nbsp;no longer require infected people to&nbsp;quarantine&nbsp;for seven&nbsp;days,&nbsp;dropping one of the country's few remaining pandemic-related restrictions.
Health authorities will still recommend five&nbsp;days of self-isolation for infected people but it will not be&nbsp;mandatory.
"I am glad that people will be able to resume normal life after three years and four months," President Suk Yeol Yoon told a televised meeting with government officials and medical workers to mark the lowering of the crisis level&nbsp;from&nbsp;the highest level of 4 to 3.
Requirements that masks be worn at all medical facilities and pharmacies will also be&nbsp;dropped, with masks only&nbsp;mandatory&nbsp;at hospitals with patient wards.
Yoon said the government would continue to provide financial support for&nbsp;COVID&nbsp;testing and treatment "for a while".
Last week, the World Health Organization declared an end of the global emergency status for&nbsp;COVID, which has been in place since Jan. 30, 2020.
South&nbsp;Korea, which has a population of 52 million, has reported around 31.3 million infections and 34,600 deaths, according to the&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

you might like

South Korea to drop mandatory 7-day quarantine for COVID patients from June