South Korea's capital city and nearby areas will close bars and nightclubs, limit religious gatherings, and restrict service at restaurants, in a bid to contain a burgeoning third wave of coronavirus infections, Reuters quoted the health minister as saying on Sunday.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 330 new daily coronavirus cases as of midnight on Saturday, a drop from 386 reported the day before, but the fifth straight day of more than 300 new cases.

“The third wave of Covid-19 outbreaks is increasingly in full swing,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo told a briefing. “The situation is extremely serious and grave.”

A nationwide outbreak was being driven by clusters of infections in the densely-populated Seoul metropolitan area, he said, home to around half of the country's 52 million residents.