S. Korea to toughen social distancing in regions outside greater Seoul amid virus flare-up

All News 09:15 July 14, 2021

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea announced Wednesday it will elevate the social distancing scheme in regions outside the greater Seoul up one notch, as concerns of a fourth wave of new COVID-19 outbreaks over the summer grow stronger.

The decision to implement Level 2 guidelines in regions outside Seoul, the western port city of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province on Thursday was announced in an interagency COVID-19 response meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

Kim explained the decision was reached as the number of "newly confirmed patients outside of the capital area was also on the rise, amid the greater Seoul experiencing an extended COVID-19 emergency situation."

Under Level 2 distancing, private gatherings of more than four people are banned.

The central city of Sejong, the provinces of north and south Jeolla in the southwest and North Gyeongsang Province in the east, however, will be excluded.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum speaks during an interagency meeting on the nation's COVID-19 response at the government complex in Seoul on July 14, 2021. (Yonhap)

The greater Seoul area, home to around half of the nation's population, has been placed under the strictest Level 4 guidelines since Monday, under which gatherings of more than two people are banned after 6 p.m.

The prime minister also announced that vaccination reservations that were temporarily suspended for those aged between 55 and 59 will resume at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The country, which opened vaccine reservations for those aged from 55 to 59 on Monday, stopped receiving additional reservations Tuesday due to the lack of jabs.

Kim explained that the disruption wasn't due to problems in the government's vaccine acquirement process but cited "careless aspects" in administrative preparations.