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| South Korean police officers wearing face masks stand on duty during a campaign for the 2020 South Korean National Assembly election in Seoul, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. AP |
South Korea on Thursday reported its fewest additional cases of the new coronavirus since late February, as the country is implementing an extended social distancing drive to fight against the virus pandemic.
The 39 new cases, detected Wednesday and down from 53 a day ago, brought the nation's total infections to 10,423, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
South Korea recorded around 50 or fewer daily new cases for a fourth day in a row, a sharp drop from the Feb. 29 peak of 909 new cases. But health authorities remain on high alert over cluster infections at churches and hospitals, as well as new cases coming from overseas.
The nation's death toll from the coronavirus, which emerged in China late last year, rose by four to 204, according to the KCDC. In total, 6,973 people in South Korea have recovered from the virus.
Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the nation's two worst-affected regions, reported four and no new cases, respectively, the KCDC said. The total number of cases reported in Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province reached 6,807 and 1,320, respectively.
Other major provinces and cities also reported infections, with Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province adding 12 and 10 new cases, respectively.
The country also detected 10 new cases coming from overseas at border checkpoints, raising the country's total number of imported cases to 861.
Seeking to reduce the daily number of new infections to below 50, South Korea has extended strict guidelines on social distancing by two weeks to April 19. South Korea has tested 494,711 people so far. (Yonhap)
