UPDATE : Monday, September 7, 2020
상단여백
HOME Policy
New virus cases soar above 100; local infections highest since March
  • By Shim Hyun-tai
  • Published 2020.08.14 12:42
  • Updated 2020.08.14 17:57
  • comments 0

Korea’s new Covid-19 cases surged past 100 on Thursday as local infections marked the highest number since late March, forcing healthy officials to consider upgrading the social distancing level.

The nation reported 103 new virus cases -- 85 local infections and 18 foreign arrivals -- raising the cumulative caseload to 14,873 as of midnight Thursday. The daily tally exceeding 100 on the back of community spreads was the first since April 1 when the number reached 101.

Forty-six more people recovered, increasing the number of cured patients to 13,863, with 705 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 Thursday. The nation has tested 1,665,084 suspected patients since Jan. 3.

Sixty-nine patients were infected in the Seoul metro region, five in Busan, three in Incheon and South Chungcheong Province, two in Gwangju, and one in Gangwon Province, North Gyeongsang Provinces and Ulsan.

Health authorities have entered into an emergency work as silent group infections showed little signs of slowing down in markets, offices, churches, and schools in the Seoul metro region.

Cluster infections, which originated in churches, are spreading to a variety of new facilities, places, such as traditional outdoor markets and fast-food franchise stores.

A shopping arcade with about 600 stories in Seoul’s Dongdaemun Market temporarily closed on Wednesday. There are growing concerns about the community spread as more than 10 people are taking diagnostic tests. Earlier, two shopping centers in Namdaemun Market, the largest traditional market in Korea, also shut down.

At a church in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, an additional 11 cases were confirmed as of Friday. The accumulated total related to this church increased to 24 in four days.

Municipal officials will shut down the new hotbed of cluster infections until Aug. 28 and are inspecting another 754 religious facilities under its jurisdiction.

“We are now facing a situation even worse than the mass infections spread from the multicultural entertainment district in Itaewon, Seoul, in May,” said Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters. “The virus is infecting people, not in a series from a single source, but is simultaneously spreading in several places of the greater Seoul area after silent transmission.”

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said that if the situation worsens, the government would have to consider a plan to raise the social distancing measure in the Seoul metro region to the second level.

Chung also expressed concerns over some right-wing groups trying to push ahead with protest rallies on the National Liberation Day Saturday.

“The government respects the freedom of assembly but has to prioritize the safety and health of the people amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” the prime minister said. “We hope the Seoul Metropolitan Government should take strict measures on these rallies.”

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