President Moon Jae-in apologized to the nation Thursday for restoring tough social distancing measures following a spike in coronavirus cases and deaths.

Moon issued the apology shortly after the government announced new measures to reduce the maximum private gathering size to four people and restore a 9 p.m. curfew on restaurant and cafe business hours.

"I am sorry that we have had to once again strengthen antivirus measures," Moon was quoted as saying by his spokesperson Park Kyung-mee at a press briefing.

"Over the course of the phased return to normal, we failed to prepare properly and could not suppress the increase in critically ill patients nor secure enough hospital beds," he said, according to Park. (Yonhap)