The government will reportedly raise social distancing rules in the greater Seoul region and Gangwon Province by one notch as early as Thursday amid a spike in COVID-19 infections in those areas. 

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on Monday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun will hold a meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss new quarantine responses in the Seoul metro area and parts of Gangwon Province and confirm them. 

It was known that distancing guidelines in both regions will likely be upgraded to One-Point-Five from the current One, although the tougher scheme will likely apply partially for Gangwon and cover its western part, which has witnessed more serious outbreaks than the eastern part. 

The average number of new locally infected COVID-19 patients in the Seoul metro area and Gangwon stood at 99-point-four and 13-point-nine, respectively, in the past week, nearing or surpassing the upgrading thresholds of 100 and 10 for the comparative regions under the country's new five-tier distancing scheme. 

Earlier, the government issued a "preliminary warning" for the capital region and Gangwon Province ahead of enforcing tougher measures.