South Korea to toughen physical distancing rules to combat virus

South Korean health officials on Sunday announced in a briefing that the physical distancing rules to combat coronavirus did not provide enough effect on preventing the spread of the virus. The country had reported an average of 514 new virus cases each day in the past week, 375 of them in the Seoul area. Earlier on Sunday, South Korea reported 631 new cases, taking the total to 37,546 with 545 deaths.

The Health Minister said the latest session had been tied to various sources that made it difficult for authorities to concentrate their quarantine efforts on a small number of certain groups. He added South Korea could face a shortage of intensive care unit beds if the current level of upward trend continued for one to two weeks. Under the new restrictions, which will be effective for three weeks from Tuesday, authorities will shut down facilities including karaoke rooms, fitness centers, indoor gyms and most of cram schools in the Seoul metropolitan area. Any event involving more than 50 people including a wedding ceremony in the Seoul area will be banned, and all sports games will be held without fans.