ng","@id":"https://www.thestandard.com.hk/comment"}}]}]17:T73f,

South Korea has reported 323 new cases of the coronavirus, marking its 16th consecutive day of triple-digit daily jumps, as health officials prepare to tighten social distancing restrictions in the greater capital area, AP reports.

The numbers released by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday brought the national caseload to 19,400. Fatalities reached 321 after the country added five more deaths overnight.

The KCDC said 249 of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of the country’s 51 million people live, and where health workers have struggled to track infections linked to various places, including churches, restaurants, schools and apartment buildings.

The country has added 4,630 cases over the 16 days, raising fears about possible shortages in hospital capacities.

For eight days starting on Sunday, the country will allow restaurants to provide only food deliveries and takeout meals after 9 pm, franchised coffee shops like Starbucks to provide only takeout drinks and food and to shut down gyms and after-school academies to slow the viral spread.

Health officials in South Korea prepare to tighten social distancing restrictions in the greater capital area. File Photo: Reuters.

South Korea braces for tighter anti-epidemic measures