Seoul, Jun 11 (IANS): South Korea on Friday decided to extend its tight quarantine measures for three more weeks amid the continued Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Under the country's five-tier social-distancing guidelines, the third-highest Level 2 will be kept in place until July 4 in the capital Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province, with the Level 1.5 to be placed in other areas, according to the health authorities.

The ban on any gathering of five or more people will be maintained across the country for three more weeks, reports Xinhua news agency.

The tough social-distancing rules were extended seven times since February 15 amid lingering worry about small cluster infections especially in the capital area.

South Korea reported 556 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 146,859. The daily average caseload for the past week was 573.

Of the new cases, 201 were Seoul residents and 172 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

In the greater Seoul area, the operation of entertainment facilities such as nightclubs is prohibited.

In other regions, the entertainment facilities can be run without limits.

The opening hours for multi-use facilities, such as restaurants, cafes, indoor sports facilities and karaoke rooms, are shortened to until 10 p.m. in the capital area, while no restriction is imposed elsewhere.

No restriction is imposed nationwide on the business hours of other multi-use facilities, which include movie theatres, internet cafes, private cram schools, study rooms, amusement parks, beauty shops and discount outlets.

Under the Level 2 guidelines, sports events are allowed to sell up to 30 per cent of the combined tickets. It was up from 10 per cent under the previous Level 2 rules.

Concert halls can sell as many as 4,000 tickets, higher than the previous 100.

The maximum number of attendees for wedding and funeral ceremonies is 100 under the Level 2, and the public bathhouse is allowed to open until 10 p.m.