South Korea extended social distancing curbs for several weeks to control COVID-19 outbreaks nationwide, authorities said on Friday.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the toughest level 4 restrictions in greater Seoul and level 3 curbs in the rest of the country would run through to Oct. 3.
Moreover, Kim announced that restaurants and cafes in the greater Seoul area would be allowed to close an hour later each evening and families would be allowed to gather in groups of up to eight people in the week of the Sept. 21 Chuseok holiday, known as Korean Thanksgiving Day.
Meantime, the country supercharges its vaccination campaign ahead of a thanksgiving holiday later this month. The nation reported 1,709 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 257,110.
The daily caseload was down from 1,961 in the prior day, but it hovered above 1,000 for 59 straight days.
On Thursday, Johns Hopkins University announced that 218.22 million people were infected with Coronavirus worldwide, including 4,704,116 million deaths.
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