Health authorities have urged the public to abide by the ban on personal gatherings of five or more people and to reduce contact as much as possible.

In a regular briefing Saturday, Jeong Eun-kyeong, chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said the spread of COVID-19 is continuing with average daily cases for the past week at around one-thousand-17.

She asked citizens to cancel all gatherings and stay home.

Jeong said that 24 percent of confirmed patients are infected by family members who may have contracted the disease through social activities, and reiterated the importance of observing the ban on small meetings effective through January 3.

The disease control chief said that officials are aware of issues with quarantine policies and also vowed all-out efforts to secure vaccines.