Seoul, Aug 22 (TIWN) South Korean health authorities warned on Friday that they will consider increasing the level of social distancing to the highest level if nationwide Covid-19 outbreaks continue after the upcoming weekend.

The country’s virus fight has reached a critical phase as its daily new virus cases surpassed 300 for the first time since early March on Friday mainly due to the church-linked clusters in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province, home to half of the country’s 51 million people, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The country added 324 more Covid-19 cases, including 315 local infections, raising the total caseload to 16,670, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).