President Moon Jae-in will hold an emergency inter-agency meeting to discuss the COVID-19 crisis in the greater Seoul area early next week, his office said Friday.

Moon instructed that the "special" session be convened at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday, according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.

Participants will include Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung and Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun, as well as Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum and Jeong Eun-kyeong, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

The meeting is intended to "check the special virus control and prevention posture of government offices and measures by local governments, so that the situation can be stabilized at an early date," a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters.

Moon also urged steps to ensure that the toughened social distancing rules will be implemented strictly, during a separate meeting with his Cheong Wa Dae aides earlier in the day, the official added speaking on the customary condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, health authorities reported more than 1,300 additional infections across South Korea amid the rapid spread of the delta variant especially in the Seoul metropolitan area.

The government announced a decision to raise social distancing restrictions to the highest level in the area with a population of around 25 million. (Yonhap)