The government said it will consider adjusting social distancing levels after monitoring the COVID-19 situation this week, as the reproduction rate has risen above one across the nation.

Senior health official Son Young-rae said on Sunday that the reproduction rate has reached about one-point-one across the country over the past seven days, with the rate for the greater Seoul area also nearing that figure.

The rate measures the number of people an average patient infects, and anything above one means the virus is spreading.

The official said that the third wave of the outbreak appeared to slow down but the number of infections climbed back up again recently. 

He said the government will decide on whether to adjust social distancing rules after watching conditions this week. 

Last week, South Korea began to enforce eased social distancing rules following the Lunar New Year holiday, applying Level Two in the Seoul metro area and Level One-point-Five in the rest of the country. The eased rules will be in place until the end of this month.