Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Sunday the government will legislate fines and take other legal action for individuals and business entities found to have flouted coronavirus quarantine rules.

"If there was a violation of rules, such as not wearing masks in facilities or establishments where compliance of quarantine rules is mandatory, we will not only hold the business operators but individual violators legally accountable," he told a government meeting on coronavirus responses.

South Korea reported 61 new cases of COVID-19 infections Sunday, as sporadic cluster infections continued to swell outside the Seoul metropolitan area, with a large number of the cases tied to religious establishments in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Chung also said the government will actively seek legal procedures to demand indemnity if it is found that negligence by infected patients has caused community spread or more individual infections.

The government will also push for legislation allowing the authorities to slap fines on individuals if they break quarantine rules, in an effort to quicken the process for taking appropriate administrative steps, the prime minister added. (Yonhap)