SEOUL, Feb 13 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea decided today, to ease the social-distancing rules from next week, though it will maintain a ban on the gatherings of five or more people.
The government’s five-tier social-distancing guidelines will be lowered to the third-highest Level 2, in the Seoul metropolitan area, and to the Level of 1.5 in other areas from Monday, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Counter-measure Headquarters.
In the Seoul area, business hour for restaurants, cafes, indoor sports facilities and karaoke bars, will be extended by one hour until 10.00 p.m., and six high-risk entertainment facilities, such as nightclubs, will also be allowed to operate until 10.00 p.m.
In other areas, the restriction on business hour will be lifted for restaurants, cafes and other small businesses, but entertainment facilities will be permitted to run until 10.00 p.m.
Movie theaters, internet cafes, study rooms, amusement parks, discount outlets and beauty salons will be allowed to operate without restriction on business hours, across the country, under the eased quarantine rules.
However, the health authorities decided to keep in place the ban on gatherings of five or more people, except for direct family members, as it was considered helpful for preventing small cluster infections.
In the latest tally, the country reported 362 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 83,199.– NNN-YONHAP
