SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea decided Saturday to ease social-distancing rules from next week, though it will maintain a ban on the gatherings of five or more people.

A social distancing sign is seen as passengers wait to board planes on the eve of Lunar New Year holiday at the domestic flight terminal of Gimpo airport in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. The signs read: "Keep together." (Photo: AP)

The government's five-tier social-distancing guidelines will be lowered to the third-highest Level 2 in the Seoul metropolitan area and to the Level 1.5 in other areas from Monday, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.

In the Seoul area, business hour for restaurants, cafes, indoor sports facilities and karaoke bars will be extended by one hour until 10 p.m., and six high-risk entertainment facilities such as nightclubs will also be allowed to operate until 10 p.m.

In other areas, the restriction on business hour will be lifted for restaurants, cafes and other small businesses, but entertainment facilities will be permitted to run until 10 p.m.

Movie theaters, internet cafes, study rooms, amusement parks, discount outlets and beauty salons will be allowed to operate without restriction on business hour across the country under the eased quarantine rules.

However, the health authorities decided to keep in place the ban on the gatherings of five or more people, except for direct family members, as it was considered helpful for preventing small cluster infections.

In the latest tally, the country reported 362 more cases of COVID-19 for the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 83,199.