The government has assessed last week's nationwide risk level for COVID-19 as "very high," the top level of its five-tier system and one notch up from "high" a week earlier.

Health authorities said on Monday that risk levels in both the capital region and outside areas remained at "very high" and "moderate," respectively. 

They said with the latest resurgence accelerating, it has become impossible to advance in the nation's transition to living with the virus. Authorities also called for special quarantine measures to slow down the resurgence.

The government evaluates the degrees of risk in a five-point scale based on 17 indices, including the occupancy rate of beds for critical patients, the weekly number of new serious cases, and the infection rate among seniors aged 60 or older.