Over 60 pct of S.Koreans positive about eased social-distancing rules: poll

Over 60 percent of South Korean people were positive about the eased social-distancing rules against the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll showed Monday.

According to the Korea Society Opinion Institute survey of 1,002 respondents, 62.1 percent said the business curfew on restaurants and cafes should be alleviated while measures should be strengthened to protect severely ill patients and people with underlying conditions.

About 32.6 percent of the respondents supported the restriction on business hours until the infections decline.

The government decided to moderate the social-distancing scheme for three weeks until March 13 as the tightened quarantine measures upset micro business owners for the past nine weeks.

Under the new guideline, the business hour was lengthened by one hour, allowing restaurants, cafes, bars and other businesses to open until 10:00 pm

Small merchants have demanded a longer business hour to compensate for losses caused by the business curfew.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the governing Democratic Party, vowed to prolong business hours to midnight for those who received booster shots.

The country reported 95,362 more COVID-19 cases for the past 24 hours, increasing the number of infections to 2,058,184.

The daily caseload has been on the rise in recent weeks amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.