As of now, the capital region is under level 2 and the rest of the country is at 1.5 and those restrictions were due to end on March 14th.
This comes as South Korea, on Friday, reported 488 new COVID-19 cases with 467 of them being transmitted locally.
For the past two months, the number has been hovering around this range.
Looking at the past week, the average is above 400, which meets the standard to hike the distancing measures.
Making the announcement, South Korea’s Prime Minster said this is a critical moment.
“There is a fierce fight between COVID-19’s momentum towards a fourth wave and the country’s virus prevention efforts to prevent this. If we back down, the hard-built virus prevention efforts thus far will be crushed and a fourth wave could become a reality.”
Maintaining the current level includes the gathering ban of five or more people nationwide, and for the capital region, on-site dining being prohibited past 10 PM.
However, some measures are eased as public baths will be able to operate until 10 PM as long as strict virus prevention measures are in place.
“The fight against COVID-19 has been long. That being said, we’d like to ease restrictions to prepare for this long-term fight because we can’t keep stopping and starting our daily routines.
In the meantime, officials will conduct aggressive inspections on multi-purpose facilities to see whether the guidelines are being strictly adhered to.
They’ll also conduct mass testing at work places with lots of foreign nationals.
The government also decided to extend the ban on flights from the UK until April 1st.
Kim Do-yeon, Arirang News.
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