(Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said it's “inevitable” that social-distancing measures will be tightened to the strictest level unless the country's coronavirus outbreak can be contained.
Moon said in a meeting Sunday that the strictest Level 3 measures were a last resort, and it's “hard to imagine how serious the damage will be” if they are imposed. Still, the government will have to make a bold decision on whether to raise the level, he said. The country confirmed 1,030 cases on Sunday, breaking the previous day's record of 950 infections.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 1,002 of the new cases were locally transmitted, with more than 70% from the greater Seoul area, which has been on the second-highest level 2.5 restrictions since Tuesday.
South Korea had been praised and emulated for its earlier success in slowing the virus's spread without a lockdown, relying instead on rapid testing and contact-tracing to reduce flareups. The government plans to start Covid-19 vaccinations before March and will begin using other treatments before the end of January, ruling Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon said in a briefing Sunday.
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The government should raise the social-distancing level immediately to halt the spread of the virus, Jaehun Jung, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University College of Medicine, said on his Facebook Sunday. “We're at the most critical moment,” he said.
Under South Korea's Level 3 restrictions, gatherings of 10 people or more are prohibited, including all sporting events, while schools can only offer online classes. The public is advised to stay at home as much as possible, and companies are required to have non-essential employees work from home. There are no travel restrictions, although foreign visitors are required to be quarantined for 14 days unless they are exempt under cross-border agreements.
The country in November modified its social-distancing system with a five-tier structure that intensifies restrictions according to the severity of the outbreak. Level 3 is adopted when an “extreme” spike in locally transmitted infections sparks a large-scale, nationwide outbreak, or when daily cases reach 800 or more, according to Korea Disease Control & Prevention Agency.
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