South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks until the end of the Lunar New Year holidays as new Covid-19 infection clusters emerge in the country, Reuters quoted Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun as saying on Sunday.

The announcement dashed earlier expectations that the government would ease the rules from the current highest levels, which include a restaurant curfew and a ban on gatherings of more than four people and have been in place since early December.

But health authorities decided to maintain the curbs after a new large outbreak emerged from missionary training schools across the country last week, reversing a recent downtrend in daily infections ahead of the Lunar New Year break, which begins on Feb 11.

“The government is planning to extend the current distancing levels and anti-virus standards as they are until the Lunar New Year holidays end,” Chung told an intra-agency meeting.

“The third Covid-19 wave, which had temporarily slowed, is again threatening our daily lives following the group infections from the missionary institutes.”