The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Friday issued “no assembly" orders for hundreds of coin-operated singing rooms in the capital city to prevent additional outbreaks of COVID-19 following a spike in cases linked to entertainment facilities. 

The administrative order imposed on the operators of around 570 such singing rooms  is a de-facto ban on the businesses and will stay in place until further notice. 

General singing rooms or karaoke venues that do not use coin-operated machines are not subject to the order.

The measure comes after the city government found that 44 percent of those coin singing booths were not following through with quarantine guidelines against the coronavirus. 

City officials plan to conduct additional sanitation and quarantine checks on the targeted establishments next week.