Authorities are toughening quarantine measures at nursing homes following reports of dozens of “breakthrough" infections involving nursing home residents in parts of the nation. 

The Central Disaster Management Headquarters on Wednesday announced a suspension of in-person visits that were allowed for nursing home residents who were fully vaccinated under Level Three or lower in social distancing. Only non-contact visits will be permitted for now. 

In addition, regular compulsory COVID-19 tests that were waived for fully vaccinated nursing home staffers will also resume. 

Under the new plan, those working in nursing homes under Level Four will be required to undergo a Polymerase Chain Reaction(PCR) test once a week, and those under Level Three once every two weeks. 

The toughening of the quarantine measures came after several nursing homes in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province reported cluster infections involving residents and employees who were fully vaccinated.