S. Korea keeps crowd limits as omicron causes 25-fold spike

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will extend restaurant dining hours but maintain a six-person limit on private social gatherings as it wrestles with a massive coronavirus wave driven by the highly infectious omicron variant.

The 109,831 new cases reported on Friday was another record and about a 25-fold increase from the levels seen in mid-January, when omicron became the country’s dominant strain. The more than 516,000 infections counted in the past seven days alone raised South Korea's caseload to over 1.75 million.

Omicron has so far seemed less likely to cause serious illness or death than the delta variant, which hit the country hard in December and January. But cases are growing much faster and appear to be putting the country on a verge of a possible hospital surge.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Seoul’s No. 2 official behind President Moon Jae-in, acknowledged people’s frustration with extended virus restrictions and the shock on service sector businesses, but said officials couldn’t afford to ease social distancing significantly when hospitalizations and deaths are starting to creep up.

Officials did extend the curfew on restaurants and other businesses from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. but private social gatherings of seven or more people will continue to be prohibited at least through March 13.

People will continue to be required to show their vaccination status through smartphone apps or documents to enter potentially crowded spaces like restaurants, coffee shops, gyms and karaoke venues.

“Experts are expecting the (omicron outbreak) to peak sometime between late February and March,” Kim said during a meeting on anti-virus strategies. “When we reach a point where we could confirm the (outbreak) has peaked and was in decline, we will start meaningfully easing...