"Antivirus efforts have faced a crisis," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters at the Seoul government complex.

"Over the past week, the greater Seoul area had more than a hundred patients a day on average," he said.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), on Tuesday, the daily increase in COVID-19 infections was 230, and the total number of people with confirmed coronavirus rose to 28,999.

The daily increase in infections above 200 has been observed in South Korea for the fourth day. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 494 people have died in the country, another 60 people are in serious or critical condition.