사회적 거리두기 1.5단계 격상<br /><br />That was South Korea's health minister with the latest on the COVID-19 situation in the nation.<br />For more details about the new social distancing measures covering Seoul and its surrounding areas, our Kim Yeon-seung is on the line.<br />Yeon-seung, talk us through why these measures being implemented?<br />Hi Mark.<br />South Korea on Tuesday reported 230 new COVID-19 cases, 202 of which were locally transmitted. It's the fourth day in a row that there have been over 200 infections.<br />Most of those cases are from the densely populated capital area which saw 137 cases on Tuesday.<br />Now for five straight days, the capital region has been seeing over 100 daily infections, so health authorities are tightening measures in an effort to curb the spread.<br />And tell us more about the criteria that has to be met for the distancing guidelines to be modified and also what differences we'll see....<br />Mark, when health authorities first announced their new five-tier distancing measures system, they said they would tighten measures if the capital region sees a weekly average of over 100 daily cases.<br />Daily cases in the capital region have already reached that threshold, with this week's average reaching a little over 110.<br />In response, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Tuesday morning announced the government's decision to raise the distancing level for the capital region up a notch to level 1-point-5.<br />The government is also considering raising the level to 1-point-5 in Gangwon-do Province which has seen a spike in cases recently.<br />The tightened measures for the capital region will start on midnight Thursday.<br />Under the measures, there will be a stricter limit on the number of people allowed in certain types of facilities.<br />Wedding halls, funeral homes and saunas can only hold 1 visitor per 4 square meters.<br />Movie theaters, concert halls and PC rooms should seat their customers one seat apart unless they have a barrier in between people, and amusement parks can only allow in half of their usual customers.<br />Religious gatherings and sports events can only seat 30-percent of their total capacity.<br />Schools will go back to having a mandatory attendance cap of two-thirds, and protests and festivals are limited to under 100 people.<br />That's all I have for now, but I'll be back with updates at a later time.<br />Back to you, Mark<br />
