Jeju to raise social distancing rules to Level 2 next week

JEJU, South Korea, May 28 (Yonhap) -- Jeju Island, South Korea's most popular holiday destination, will raise its anti-COVID-19 social distancing measures by one notch to Level 2 at the end of this month to cope with growing local transmissions of the coronavirus, the provincial government said Friday.

The Level 2 posture, the third highest in the country's five-tier COVID-19 alert system, will be enforced for two weeks beginning Monday, the government said, noting the operating hours of facilities used by the general public will be reduced and gathering limits will be imposed under the new rules.

Jeju will become the nation's third region outside the greater Seoul area to be put under the Level 2 scheme against the coronavirus after Chuncheon of the northeastern province of Gangwon and the southeastern city of Ulsan.

The island, increasingly favored by locals as an alternative to overseas travel amid the prolonged pandemic, has reported a daily average of 12.6 COVID-19 infections over the past week, raising its infectious disease reproductive ratio from 0.8 on May 19 to 1.4 on Wednesday. If the ratio exceeds 1, it is a warning about ongoing spread of local transmissions.

ycm@yna.co.kr
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