New COVID-19 infections on the march in S Korea

The 2,052 new cases reported on Friday marked the 45th consecutive day of over 1,000 and brought the country's caseload to 232,859, including 2,197 deaths.

The viral spread, driven by increased travel and the highly contagious delta variant, is a worrisome development in a country where a slow vaccine rollout has left more than half of the population still waiting for a first shot.

More than 1,300 of the new cases came from capital Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan region, where officials on Friday decided to enforce the strongest Level 4 social distancing rules for at least another two weeks. The rules prohibit private social gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m. and force nightclubs and churches to close.