South Korea Considers Toughest COVID-19 Restrictions Yet As It Witnesses Two Days Of Record Fresh Cases

With two days of record increases in fresh COVID-19 cases in South Korea which is battling a third wave of the pandemic, country's Prime Minister (PM) Moon Jae-in warned on Sunday (13 December) that the restrictions may be raised to the highest level, reports Economic Times.

PM Moon pressed the need to up vigilance and called for all-out efforts to contain the virus's spread. This came as PM moon presided over an emergency meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. He also ordered the mobilisation of the police forces, public medical doctors are the military personnel to contain the situation which he called an 'emergency'.

Referring to the nation's five-tier system, PM Moon said, "Unless the outbreak can be contained now, it has come to the critical point of considering escalating social-distancing measures to the third level."

PM Moon added, "Our back is against the wall. this is a crucial moment to devote all our virus control capabilities and administrative power to stopping the coronavirus spread." He also shared that the nation would add about 10,000 hospital beds over the next few weeks and temporarily pay some nurses involved in COVID-19 care additional 3 million won ($2,748) each month to help the stretched hospitals across the nation.