Seoul, Dec 31 (IANS): South Korea will extend the current Covid-related restrictions on private gatherings and businesses for another two weeks to curb the spread of the Omicron variant, health authorities said.

The current social distancing rules put in place on December 18 limits the maximum size of private gatherings to four people nationwide and imposed a 9 p.m. curfew on cafes, restaurants and bars, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Those measures were reimposed amid an alarming pace of new infections, with the government backtracking on its earlier plan to relax restrictions in phases to return to normalcy.

The rules were set to end on January 2.

The two-week extension is expected to be announced during a Covid-19 response meeting to be presided over by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Friday, the authorities said.

Despite the slowing pace of the spread of the virus, the government is keeping its guard high amid the still high number of critically ill virus patients and lingering uncertainty over the new variant.