South Korea decided Sunday to extend tougher social distancing measures for another two weeks, as it is wary of a pileup in cluster infections ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, Yonhap News Agency reported. The country will maintain the Level 2.5 measures, the second-highest in its five-tier scheme, in the greater Seoul area and Level 2 in other regions until Feb. 14, according to health authorities. It will also continue to ban private gatherings of five or more people in an effort to rein in the spread of the new coronavirus ahead of the holiday, set for Feb. 11-14. The move is apparently aimed at helping the country smoothly begin COVID-19 vaccinations next month and start the school spring semester in March. The country will also strictly ban private gatherings of five or more people during the holiday in a bid to discourage people from traveling across the nation to meet their family members and relatives. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the country will get enough Pfizer vaccine doses for 60,000 people in mid-February and enough AstraZeneca vaccine doses for up to 2.19 million people in the first half of this year. The country added 355 more COVID-19 cases Sunday, including 325 local infections, raising the total caseload to 78,205, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
