It has been almost two months since Incheon United FC were supposed to play their first match of the season. But in that time, South Korea – once the epicentre of the first major outbreak of coronavirus outside China – has stabilised its infection rate to the point that the country’s professional soccer teams like Incheon United can play again, albeit to an empty stadium. The sun’s out and so are South Koreans, on day with no new domestic cases “Fans were ecstatic when they heard the announcement, even if they’ll have to wait a little longer to actually watch the matches inside the stadium,” said Jih Won-ik, a social media manager with the club’s external communications team. “We might get the go-ahead from the government to open games with 10 per cent or 20 per cent of the maximum audience capacity of 20,000 in the near future.” On Thursday, South Korea reported no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since February and has largely managed to bring the outbreak within its borders under control. A massive campaign of testing and intensive contact tracing has led to fewer than 11,000 infections and less than 300 deaths in the 15 weeks since its first case was announced on January 20. Now, cinemas are reopening, soon to be joined by public museums and art galleries, as the government gradually eases social distancing rules that have been in place since March 22. South Korean patients with reactivated virus have ‘little or no infectivity’ An initial period of intensive social distancing was relaxed on April 19 after new infections in the country fell to single digits. New guidelines allowed for sports matches to resume without an audience and imposed fewer restrictions on high-risk venues such as churches . In a televised meeting with government officials last month, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the country “will shift to ‘routine social distancing’ – an attempt to balance daily life and antivirus measures – from May 6 if it “can maintain a stable management at the current level”. This was brought forward a few days following an announcement by the prime minister on Sunday that South Korea “will allow businesses to resume at facilities in phases that had remained closed up until now, and also allow gatherings and events to take place assuming they follow disinfection guidelines”. This “new normal” means that people are urged to order tickets online before visiting cinemas and other venues, choose takeaway over dining in, conduct work meetings with minimum number of people, and for wedding hosts to give out presents instead of providing meals to guests as is customary in South Korea. Because of Buddha’s Birthday, many workers in South Korea began a long holiday weekend on Thursday – which will be the true test of the country’s pandemic response, according to Yoon Tae-ho, director general for public health policy. “If we get through this long weekend without many problems, we will be in a much safer position,” he told a briefing. Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip has said the government is “continuously examining and monitoring the situation” and stands ready to strengthen preventive measures again, should the need arise. Which may be sooner than hoped, according to some medical experts who question whether the easing of social distancing measures has come too quick. Eom Joong-sik, a professor at Gachon University’s Division of Infectious Diseases, said the country had been “left without much choice but to open up society” because of the damage – both economic and societal – that the pandemic and virus response has wrought. “Ideally measures would be lifted once confirmed cases stop showing up [over a prolonged period], but the problem is that we don’t exactly know when that will be,” he said. “Looking at mobile phone data that tracked movement, the country lessened its movements by 50 per cent from the end of February to March without any mandatory restrictions, so the government may have seen this as a good sign.” Not everyone is breathing a sigh of relief just yet, though. While some families may have been out over the long holiday weekend visiting parks and shopping centres, An Youn-jung is worried about imported infections – South Korea registered four on the day it announced no new domestic cases – and whether numbers could suddenly spike if people start going about their lives as normal. “We still have confirmed cases every day and there are infected people without any symptoms out in public, so if everyone walks around outside, I’m scared that I will have a much bigger chance of catching it,” said the 51-year-old mother from the city of Paju, north of Seoul. “Since we have endured through this pandemic all these months, why don’t we just wait until there are no confirmed cases for 20 straight days, like some of the experts have advised to do?” Others, such as 20-year-old college student Kang Ye-son, said he thought lifting restrictions was “going to be OK”. The Paju resident, who has been forced to study online this semester because of the pandemic, did raise one concern, however. “I think there is a chance that people will take some time off and let their guard down about the whole situation,” he said. “I am worried about that, in a way.” Additional reporting by Reuters Help us understand what you are interested in so that we can improve SCMP and provide a better experience for you. We would like to invite you to take this five-minute survey on how you engage with SCMP and the news.