Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
COVID-19 outbreak shows stabilizing sign
Seats at the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul remained empty, Sunday, as the church replaced its Sunday worship services with online ones to ensure its members' safety amid the spread of COVID-19. /Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea added 76 new cases on Saturday, with a total number of cases at 8,162, making the first day in nearly three weeks when the number of new cases has fallen below 100, the health authorities said, Sunday.
The government reported 76 new COVID-19 infections Saturday, the first time in nearly three weeks for the number to have dropped below 100.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Sunday that the total number of coronavirus patients had reached 8,162, with 75 fatalities ― most of whom were elderly patients who had been suffering from underlying illnesses. Those recovering from the infection and being released from quarantine now number 834; while nearly 270,000 tests have been carried out so far.
This is the first time in 23 days that the number of newly confirmed cases has fallen to double digits since Feb.21, when it marked 74. Since Feb.22, when 190 patients were found to have contracted COVID-19, the number of confirmed cases has been more than 100 daily. The figure also marked the fourth straight decrease since 242 cases were reported Wednesday.
Of the 76, 41 were from Daegu and four from North Gyeongsang Province, the epicenters of the virus outbreak here whose total numbers of confirmed infections now stand at 6,031 and 1,157, respectively. The two regions account for about 88 percent of the total confirmed cases in South Korea.
In the metropolitan area there were 22 new confirmed patients ― nine in Seoul, 11 in Gyeonggi Province, and two in Incheon ― all linked to a call center in Guro District that has produced the largest group infection in the capital area and its vicinity.
The KCDC said the recent pace of new infections is showing signs of slowing down, but added it was still on high alert for new infection cluster similar to those in the Guro call center and the Government Complex in Sejong, an administrative city south of Seoul. The total number of infections at Sejong is now 39, with patients coming from the health, education and veterans' affairs ministries.
Meanwhile, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin said that a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the founding of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus was replaced with an online worship service, Saturday. The group had already announced it would hold an online anniversary event, and that worship services would also be held via the internet until the virus outbreak subsides.
Daegu Metropolitan Government issued an administrative order last week banning all Shincheonji followers from holding meetings and religious events. Kwon said the city has been cooperating with police to strengthen its monitoring for possible meetings in the city.
Daegu has been hit hardest by the epidemic of the highly contagious virus and became a hotbed for the outbreak, as more than 60 percent of confirmed cases there were Shincheonji members, as of Saturday.