The number of moviegoers in South Korea has dropped to a 16-year low amid fallout from the government's heightened COVID-19 social distancing measures.

According to the Korean Film Council on Wednesday, 58-point-four million people visited movie theaters so far this year, far short of last year's record-setting figure of over 220 million.

Sixteen-point-eight million people watched movies in theaters in January just before the start of the epidemic, which more than halved to seven-point-three million the following month.

The monthly tally, which plunged to 900-thousand in April, peaked at eight-point-eight million in August, before falling back to three-point-five million in November.

No more than one-point-five million moviegoers are expected in December, since theaters in the Seoul metropolitan area cannot operate past 9:00 p.m. under Level Two-point-Five distancing rules.

If the annual total manages to surpass 60 million this year, it would stand to be less than the 69-point-two million recorded in 2004.