The South Korean government has expressed concerns that the nation could witness another resurgence in COVID-19 cases with an increase in travel during springtime.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on Wednesday urged the public to continue thoroughly following quarantine rules, saying minimizing the occurrence of new cases is key to smoothly carrying out the vaccination process.

Senior health official Yoon Tae-ho in a regular briefing noted there was no room for laxity in the Seoul metropolitan area. For the rest of the country, he said regional cases were steadily rising after staying relatively stable last week.

He attributed such developments to more people traveling amid the warmer weather and as social distancing rules have been eased.

The headquarters said the average daily number of local cases over the past week stood at 399-point-nine, just one case away from falling within the threshold for Level Two-point-Five social distancing. The metro area is currently in Level Two while the rest of the country is at Level One-point-Five.