![President Yoon Suk Yeol (center) presides over a government COVID-19 response meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on Thursday (Yonhap)](http://res.heraldm.com/phpwas/restmb_idxmake.php?idx=640&simg=/content/image/2023/05/11/20230511000228_0.jpg)
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday declared an end to almost all COVID-19 restrictions, including mandatory isolation.
Yoon said during a COVID-19 response meeting that the seven-day mandatory isolation period for COVID-19 patients will be reduced to a recommendation of five days.
Yoon also said the indoor mask mandate will be lifted everywhere except for hospitals with rooms for hospitalization, and the national crisis level for COVID-19 will be lowered from "serious" to "alert."
The measures came days after the World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic as a "global health emergency." (Yonhap)