South Korea announced much of its social distancing guidelines will remain in place until May 5, with some exceptions introduced.
Religious institutions will be allowed to reopen, while sporting events can resume without an audience.
"It is safest to maintain the intensive social distancing, but it isn't easy realistically. We need to find a middle ground," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a televised address.
"If we can maintain a stable management at the current level, we will shift to 'routine social distancing' from May 6."
The decision comes as the country reported just eight new coronavirus infections, bringing its total cases to 10,661.
Of the new cases, five were imported from overseas, with the death toll at 234.
Israeli troops and tanks pushed on Saturday into parts of a congested northern Gaza Strip district that they had previously skirted in the more than seven-month-old war, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, medics and residents said.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is no longer in immediate danger but still in a serious condition, his deputy said on Sunday, four days after an assassination attempt that sent shockwaves through Europe.
At least 47 people have died after continued heavy rain and flooding in northern Afghanistan, an official said on Sunday, a day after a similar number were killed in a central province.
Russian airstrikes killed at least ten people and injured many others in a recreation area just outside Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, local officials said.