Seoul City will cut back bus and subway operations by 20 percent past 10 p.m., in an effort to discourage people from staying out late amid the surge in COVID-19 infections in the capital region.

In an online briefing Wednesday, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said that buses will be running at 20 percent reduced capacity from 10 p.m. Thursday and subway lines the same from Friday to minimize unnecessary movement in late night hours.

Regarding concerns over how that may raise density levels at other hours, the mayor said a slight increase will still be manageable and promised to continue monitoring and responding flexibly in adjusting service operations.

The city government took similar action last December during the third wave of the pandemic by reducing public transportation by 30 percent after 9 p.m. at that time.

Earlier in the day, health authorities urged local governments to scale back public transport from 10 p.m., as the country reported more than 12-hundred new infections, including over 500 in the captial city.