<Anchor> The



number of new confirmed cases of Corona 19 exceeded 360,000 last night (18th), and it is expected to record the high 300,000 level today.

The new social distancing will be in effect from next week, and the number of private gatherings will increase to 8 and the 11 p.m. business hours limit will remain the same.



Reporter Han Seong-hee reports.



<Reporter> The



government has lowered the level of relaxation of the distance due to the rapid increase in the number of new infections.



The number of private gatherings was increased from 6 to 8, but the extension of business hours until midnight, which was actively considered, was omitted.



[Kwon Deok-cheol/Minister of Health and Welfare: Considering the pandemic of Omicron, the burden of the medical response system, and the uncertainty of predicting the peak of the epidemic, there are great concerns to significantly ease the distance.]



Self-employed people poured out their complaints.



[Noh Ok-rae/Hope shop owner: You have to increase the time by one more hour and do that, it opens up people like us.

To be honest, it doesn't come like that just because I added ten or eight people, people.]



The medical groups continued to criticize me.



It is said that the damage increased by releasing the quarantine three times in the past month, including the suspension of the new quarantine pass, business hours, and easing of private gatherings.



When it comes to the next direction for distancing, the government has been cautious.



[Lee Ki-il/Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters 1st Controller: After the peak passes, if it is definitely broken and the medical system is managed stably, we will comprehensively review (additional mitigation measures).]



Although the number of new confirmed cases decreased by 220,000 from the previous day, the number was 407,077, the second highest in history.



The daily death toll was 301, which is also the second highest.



The government maintained the outlook that the peak of the number of confirmed cases would continue until next week and break after the 23rd.



He emphasized again and again that what is important is the number of critically ill patients and deaths rather than the number of confirmed cases.



The death toll is three to four times that of the delta epidemic at the end of last year, and about one-third of the 11,000 cumulative deaths occurred in the past two weeks.



Experts predict that the peak of severe cases will be in the middle of next month and the peak of death will be the end of next month.