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Subway riders wait for a train at Sindorim Station in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap News)

The South Korean government decided Friday to raise social distancing restrictions for Seoul and nearby Incheon and Gyeonggi Province to the highest level, Level 4. The new restrictions will take effect on Monday, July 12, and remain in place for two weeks.

“We’re facing the greatest crisis yet in our campaign to contain COVID-19, as the daily caseload sets new records each day,” said Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, who chaired a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on Friday.

“The government has decided to implement Level 4 of social distancing in the greater Seoul area after concluding that a bold decision and swift action are the only answer,” Kim said.

“Since government departments, local governmental bodies, and the general public will need time to prepare. The new measures will take effect next Monday and last for two weeks. But we ask individuals to refrain from private gatherings starting today.”

“We’re maintaining the ban on gatherings at nightlife establishments and postponing a plan to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people. Since this is the highest level of social distancing, we will apply ourselves with the realization that our backs are against the wall,” Kim said.

In related news, Korea’s disease control authorities have raised the possibility that the daily caseload could soon rise above 2,000 people and that Delta could become the predominant variant of the coronavirus during the fourth wave of COVID-19.

“The rate of increase in new cases over the past week [769 cases between July 1 and 7] is 53% higher than three weeks ago [473 cases between June 10 and 16], leading us to conclude that we’re entering the fourth wave of the pandemic,” said Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, in the daily briefing on Thursday.

“Another worrying factor at the moment is the growing prevalence of Delta. The variant’s detection rate is steadily rising, raising the possibility that it could achieve dominance in August,” Jeong said, referring to a situation in which Delta accounts for more new cases than any of the other coronavirus variants in circulation.

Korean authorities reported on Friday that 1,376 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, which was the highest tally in the year and six months of the pandemic. This was the third day in a row that COVID-19 cases exceeded 1,200, with 1,212 cases reported on Wednesday and 1,275 cases on Thursday.

On Nov. 20, 2020, immediately after the third wave of the pandemic was made official, the Korean government reported 348 new cases of COVID-19. That means that the fourth wave is beginning with a daily caseload that’s three times higher than during the third wave.

With cases at triple the level at the beginning of the third wave and a virus variant that’s more than two and a half times more transmissible than the original coronavirus, there are concerns that the fourth wave will be even bigger than the previous ones.

“A joint analysis of mathematical models with experts from the private sector showed that the number of daily cases will reach about 1,400 by the end of July at current levels and 2,140 if the current situation gets worse,” the disease authorities said on Thursday.

The authorities intend to respond to the current spread by adjusting social distancing regulations until the end of September, when the daily caseload is supposed to decrease to the 260-415 range according to their analysis of models.

Two key goals are to prevent the surge in the greater Seoul area from spreading to other parts of the country and rapidly increasing the number of fully vaccinated people, who have ample protection against the Delta variant.

Delta has been detected in most of Korea’s provinces and metropolitan areas — including North and South Gyeongsang Provinces, North Jeolla Province, Gangwon Province, Jeju Island, South Chungcheong Province, Busan, and Daejeon — which means that it has already begun to spread outside of the greater Seoul area.

“We’re asking residents of the greater Seoul area to refrain from visiting other parts of the country as much as possible to stop the virus from spreading to those areas,” Jeong said Thursday.

By Choi Ha-yan, staff reporter

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