S. KOREA REPORTS 1,600 NEW CASES

[Anchor Lead]

1,600 new COVID-19 cases, including 45 cases from overseas, were reported in Korea today. Korea has seen the number of new patients surpass 1,600 for two straight days. Starting today, level 2 social distancing measures will be enforced in most areas outside of the capital region.

[Pkg]

The average number of daily cases in the non-capital regions last week more than doubled from the previous week to 300. To stop the fourth surge from affecting the rest of the country, the government decided to toughen social distancing measures in areas outside of the Seoul metropolitan region. All municipalities and provinces other than Sejong City, Jeollanam-do, Jeollabuk-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do provinces are imposed with level 2 social distancing guidelines. Jejudo Island, the country’s favorite tourist destination, is considering level 3 measures within this week. A gathering ban was ordered for some 1,300 entertainment establishments on Jejudo Island. Other regions are carrying out their own disease control measures. The size of private gatherings were restricted to four people for Sejong City and 8 people for Jeollabuk-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do Provinces still on level 1. In Busan and Gangwon-do Province, even those who have been vaccinated will not be exempted from the gathering size limitation. The government believes the number of cases will only increase for the next week and plans to see how the tougher measures are going to work out.

[Soundbite] Lee Ki-il(Controller, Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure HQs) : "Many Koreans are following level 4 social distancing measures, but it would take at least a week to see the measures’ effects."

An increase in patients with mild or no symptoms pushed up the occupancy rate of community treatment centers in the metropolitan area up to 76.5%, prompting the centers to secure some 2,000 more beds. Hospital in-patient service is provided to critical patients first so those who show mild cases that wish to be admitted to a hospital would need to wait behind priority patients.