Seoul, Dec 31 (IANS): The South Korean government will extend toughened social distancing rules for two more weeks through mid-January, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Friday, amid efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 and contain the Omicron variant.

"It is too early to think that we have overcome the crisis," Yonhap News Agency quoted Kim as saying during a Covid-19 response meeting here.

"We still have a lot of critically ill virus patients and deaths."

The government has been enforcing stricter social distancing rules since December 18 following a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Currently, private gatherings are capped at four people nationwide, while 9 or 10 p.m. curfews are imposed on multiuse facilities' business hours.

The restrictions were originally supposed to end Sunday, but with the latest decision, they will be enforced through January 16.

In addition to existing curbs, the authorities decided to tighten distancing measures for large discount chains and department stores by making it mandatory for visitors to show a proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test result.

After imposing the tightened virus curbs and encouraging booster shots, Kim said the country's virus situation is improving with the daily number of new cases showing a downward trend.

Kim also warned against complacency as the daily figures of serious Covid-19 cases and deaths are still over 1,000 and 100, respectively, despite the increased inoculation rate among senior citizens.

He added that the government still has to work hard to secure more hospital beds and to have a medical system that can handle 10,000 patients a day, while needing to be fully prepared before the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads quickly across the nation.

As of Friday, the country confirmed a total of 894 Omicron variant cases, up 269 from the previous day.