S.Korea to extend toughest social-distancing rules in capital area for 2 weeks

South Korea decided on Friday to extend its toughest social-distancing rules in the capital area for two more weeks amid the continued COVID-19 resurgence.

The Level 4 social-distancing guideline, the highest in the country's four-tier quarantine rules, will be kept in place in Seoul, its surrounding Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon until October 17.

The toughest quarantine scheme has been maintained in the Seoul metropolitan area since July 12.

Under the Level 4 rules, the daily business hours of restaurants and cafes will be limited to until 10:00 pm local time.

The number of people who are allowed to gather after 6:00 pm will be unchanged at two, but the number can be raised to six including four people who are fully vaccinated. In the daytime, the gathering of as many as six people, including two fully vaccinated people, is allowed under the Level 4 guideline.

The fully inoculated people refer to those who received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine two weeks ago.

The tight quarantine measures came as South Korea saw no sign of the COVID-19 resurgence easing.

In the latest tally, it reported 2,486 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, lifting the total number of coronavirus infections to 313,773 in the Asian country. The daily caseload has remained above 1,000 for 87 days since July 7.

Of the new cases, 907 were reported in Seoul residents. The number of the newly infected people residing in Gyeonggi province and the western port city of Incheon was 817 and 156 respectively.

The virus' spread also raged in the non-metropolitan region. The number of new infections in the non-capital areas was 571, or 23.3 percent of the total count of locally acquired cases in South Korea.

In the non-capital areas, the Level 3 social-distancing guideline will be maintained for two more weeks until October 17.

The Level 3 guideline allows the private gathering of as many as eight people, including four fully vaccinated.