Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun presides over an interagency meeting on the COVID-19 response at the government complex in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)
South Korea will extend its current social distancing measures for another two weeks, the prime minister said Friday, amid no clear signs of a letup in new COVID-19 cases and fears of a mass infection resurgence.
"The government will extend the current distancing levels and the gathering ban on five or more for another two weeks starting next week," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a regular COVID-19 response meeting in Seoul.
The greater Seoul area, home to around half of the nation's 52-million population, will remain under Level 2 distancing and the rest of the country will be subject to Level 1.5 distancing for an additional two weeks starting next week.
Bans on gatherings of five or more people and restrictions on small businesses, such as restaurants and cafes, will also remain in place for another two weeks.
Chung pointed to the increasing public fatigue over the government's social distancing measures, while expressing concern that the people's alertness against the pandemic was waning at the same time.
"We will adopt additional antivirus measures in order to come out of the stagnation in the fight against the virus and reach a stabile situation," Chung said. (Yonhap)