South Korea will ban gatherings of five or more people and order eateries and night-time entertainment businesses to close by 9 p.m. as it steps up curbs to fight a record surge in coronavirus cases.
The country will put in place the new social distancing rules from Saturday that run until Jan. 2 as the threat looms of an even higher surge fueled by the omicron variant. Most cases in the recent surge have been linked to people gathering at restaurants, bars and shopping malls, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Thursday.
"The situation is very serious,” Kim said at an emergency COVID-19 response meeting in Seoul. "We are doing our best to expand medical capacity as well as inoculations to overcome the current crisis. However, this requires time, and in the meantime, we need stronger social distancing.”
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