The South Korean government announced on Saturday that it will extend the social distancing campaign for two more weeks amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

It explained that small-scale cluster infections continue at hospitals and religious facilities and the number of new cases is not showing clear signs of decline.

In a regular briefing Saturday, Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said that inevitably, strict social distancing needs to be extended.

The government believes it's too early to be at ease with a recent uptick in infections coming from overseas. Travelers who arrived before the two-week mandatory quarantine was introduced are also a concern. 

The daily number of cases has not shown a steady decline, remaining at around a 100. Park said that despite intense social distancing efforts over the past two weeks, there is still the danger of a surge in infections.

He said two more weeks is necessary to reduce the number of new cases to a level that's within the control of quarantine authorities. The government said the goal is to have daily average cases drop to around 50.