Social distancing rules that have held sway over norms and daily routines for more than two years during the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be scrapped altogether from next week.

The South Korean government is set to announce new regulations on Friday that will take effect from Monday and many observers believe the government will remove all limits on private gatherings and business hours while retaining mandatory mask-wearing indoors.

The Central Disease Control Headquarters said on Thursday that the wave has completely passed its peak and that the number of cases will continue to decline. 

Earlier on Tuesday, senior health ministry official Son Young-rae said in a radio interview that the government is considering eliminating the midnight business curfew and ten-person gathering limit.

Authorities previously said it would lift all social distancing regulations save for indoor mask requirements, provided that the number of infections fell sharply for two weeks and if the number of serious cases remain at steady levels.

The number of daily infections halved to an average of 210-thousand last week from 405-thousand in mid-March at the peak of the omicron wave.

The number of patients in critical condition has also slipped to the one-thousand range and deaths to the 100 range.