South Korea decided Friday to extend the tightened social-distancing rules for two more weeks in a bid to reduce hospitalizations and contain the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
South Korea is to prohibit private social gatherings of five or more people nationwide and force restaurants to close at 9pm, rolling out the nation’s toughest COVID-19 restrictions yet as hospitals grapple with the deadliest month of the pandemic.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum yesterday said that the new measures would be enforced for at least 16 days after taking effect on Saturday, saying there is an urgent need to bring the country to a “standstill” with the Delta strain of SARS-CoV-2 overwhelming stretched hospitals and exhausted medical workers.
Schools in the densely populated capital, Seoul, and nearby metropolitan areas,