S. Korean gov't to end COVID-19 screening clinic operations this month

 The government decided Friday to end COVID-19 tests at public screening clinics at the end of this month as part of revised response measures against coronavirus infections, Yonhap reports. 

The decision to end virus tests at 506 public health centers across the country for those at high-risk of infection was reached in a meeting of the central government's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

Officials said the decision was made due to decreased demand for testing and the need to normalize non-coronavirus operations at public health centers.

Authorities, however, decided to maintain the national coronavirus crisis readiness level at "caution" due to concerns of an increase in infections due to seasonal factors.

South Korea first operated free COVID-19 screening clinics on January 20, 2020.

The average number of polymerase chain reaction tests conducted daily stood at 47,914 from April and June but fell to 8,390 in October. Currently one out of every four screening clinics conducts fewer than 10 tests per day.