Gatherings of 5 or More People Still Banned: Gyms and Singing Rooms to Open until 9 p.m.

[경향신문]

On the afternoon of January 17, one day before people are allowed to eat and drink inside cafes, employees at a café in Dalseo-gu, Daegu disinfect the café and return the chairs to the tables. Yonhap News

Level-2.5 physical (social) distancing in the greater Seoul region and level-2 distancing for all other areas will be extended along with the ban on private gatherings of five or more people until January 31. However, from January 18, people will be able to eat and drink inside cafes, like restaurants, until 9 p.m. Singing rooms in the Seoul metropolitan area will also resume operations on condition that they restrict the number of people in their facilities.

On January 16, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters released plans to extend the physical distancing including these details. Kwon Deok-cheol, first assistant director at the Headquarters said, “We have managed to stop the third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and reduce the number of new cases, but the numbers are not falling at a sufficient rate, and there is always the risk of another wave. So it is too early to be relieved,” and added, “We will extend the current level of distancing (originally scheduled to end on Jan. 17) for two more weeks.”

The government decided to maintain the ban on private gatherings of five or more people enforced nationwide and the restriction on the operation of facilities catering to the public, such as restaurants and supermarkets, which must close at 9 p.m. However, authorities decided to ease some preventive measures on other public facilities, which were forced to close, after considering fairness among businesses and the damages suffered by business owners. Thus indoor sports facilities such as gyms will be open until 9 p.m. as long as they limit the number of people to one person for every eight square meters.

Religious activities, such as Christian and Buddhist services, will also be permitted on condition that the facilities only fill 10% of their seats. People will also be able to eat and drink inside cafes, which previously only served take-out or delivery.

On January 17, the Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight this day, they confirmed 520 new cases of COVID-19. The figure remained in the 500s for the sixth consecutive day since January 12. In the past week (January 10-16), the average number of daily cases was 516.

The government will decide on lowering the distancing level after observing the spread of the novel coronavirus until January 31. Kwon said, “We plan to review lowering the level of distancing after assessing the risks, when the weekly average of daily cases fall below 500, which is the standard for level-2 distancing.”