UPDATE : Monday, September 7, 2020
상단여백
HOME Policy
New virus cases climb above 50 as community spreads spike
  • By Shim Hyun-tai
  • Published 2020.08.12 14:34
  • Updated 2020.08.12 19:18
  • comments 0

Korea’s new Covid-19 outbreaks jumped to over 50 on Tuesday, as local infections continued to increase in the nation’s two largest cities.

The nation reported 54 new virus cases -- 35 local infections and 19 foreign arrivals -- raising the cumulative caseload to 14,714 as of midnight Tuesday. The daily tally has moved between 20 and 40 this month but jumped above 50 for the first time in August.

Fifty-seven more people recovered, increasing the number of cured patients to 13,786, with 623 receiving treatment, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. The death toll remained at 305 as no one died of Covid-19 on Tuesday. The nation has tested 1,646,652 suspected patients since Jan. 3.

The number of local transmissions increased as infected patients were found in two high schools in Gyeonggi Province, and a middle school that provides a life-long education curriculum for adults in Busan.

Thirty-two infections occurred in the Seoul metro region and three in Busan.

Thirty-three cases have been linked to a church in Goyang, just north of Seoul, as of Tuesday noon. An additional 22 cases have been traced to another church in Goyang, and 12 cases have also been identified at a church in Gimpo, just west of Seoul.

Korea had banned church members from having gatherings other than regular worship services amid the soaring number of virus patients, but it decided to lift the regulation on July 24.

The infection related to a church in Goyang spread to one of the largest traditional markets, Namdaemun Market, in downtown Seoul, triggering a tertiary infection. Nearly 1,000 merchants in the two shopping arcades had to undergo a virus test.

Of the 19 imported infections, eight cases came from Uzbekistan, followed by three from the U.S. and one from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Ecuador, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, and Senegal.

Eight imported patients tested positive at port and airport checkpoints, and the other 11 cases were confirmed while they were under self-quarantine.

The nation also confirmed three types of new mutated Covid-19 viruses that have not been reported in the world.

“We will examine the three new mutations of spike protein involved in infection of foreign arrivals and report them to the World Health Organization for further analysis,” KCDC Director Jung Eun-kyeong said.

Two mutations were confirmed in Pakistanis and one in Uzbekistan.

shim531@docdocdoc.co.kr

<© Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>

Other articles by Shim Hyun-tai
iconMost viewed
Comments 0
More
Please leave the first comment.
여백
여백
여백
Back to Top