The latest relaxing of rules comes amid an easing in case numbers with daily COVID infections hovering around 100,000 in recent weeks compared with more than 180,000 in mid-August.

“The weekly number of infections have declined for the first time in nine weeks and the virus is showing signs of slowing down,” Lee Ki-il, the country’s second vice health minister, told reporters.

The number of infections could increase following the holiday season but the figures are likely to remain within control, said Peck Kyong-ran, head of the Korea Disease control and Prevention Agency.