The South Korean government has begun actively exploring more stringent restrictions as the nation faces its worst COVID-19 crisis to date despite its current level of heightened social distancing protocols. 

Sohn Young-rae, a senior official at the Health Ministry, said on Thursday that state authorities are comprehensively reviewing enhanced measures and other possible options, adding experts in various fields have joined in the review. 

Bae Kyung-taek, a senior official at the state task force on COVID-19 vaccination, also said in a media briefing that such a review is underway. 

He said details of discussions will be announced through consultations with related government agencies and based on their prediction models. 

Currently, the greater Seoul metro area and several other cities including Busan have been under Level Four distancing restrictions, the toughest of the four-tier system, while the rest of the regions are under Level Three protocols. 

Even tougher restrictions on the use of multi-purpose facilities and more strict masking requirements are reportedly among the possible measures. 

Meanwhile, the officials are ruling out a shift to a system focused on the management of the death toll instead of the number of confirmed new daily cases, saying that it is too early for such a change and that managing daily tallies is still important until  the country proceeds further with vaccination.