▲ People wear masks at a bookstore in central Seoul, in this file photo taken Dec. 4, 2022. (Yonhap)

S Korea-pandemic survey

Over half of S. Koreans expect COVID-19 pandemic to continue: survey

SEJONG, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 55 percent of South Koreans believe the COVID-19 pandemic will become a perpetual phenomenon, a survey showed Tuesday.

Only 18.7 percent of South Koreans were confident that the COVID-19 pandemic will end at some point, according to the survey released by Statistics Korea.

The survey was carried out in March 2022 on people aged 18 and above. It did not reveal the number of respondents.

The report also showed 61.9 percent of South Koreans are concerned about an outbreak of new infectious diseases within five years.

As to the level of people's return to pre-pandemic normalcy, South Koreans on average gave 61.4 points on a 100-point scale as of June. It marked a sharp rise from around 50 points tallied in February last year.

The low-income bracket, with a monthly income of 2 million won (US$1,529) or less, however, responded with a relatively lower figure of 48.4 points in June.

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