Korea on cusp of erasing gains in virus fight, new cases still on higher plateau

A worker wearing protective gears and a face shield checks visitors' temperature at an exhibition & convention center in Goyang, Friday, June 12, 2020. AP

South Korea's virus fight is dragging on, with a steady rise in new virus cases and untraceable infections, along with a spike in imported cases. Health authorities warned of another possible wave of infections.

The country added 49 new cases on Friday, including 32 local infections, raising the total caseload to 12,306, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases marks a slight slowdown from a three-week high of 59 a day earlier.

Of the locally transmitted cases, 26 were reported in the densely populated Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, around half of the country's 50-million population lives.

The Seoul metropolitan area accounted for most of the newly added virus cases this month.

The country has also seen an uptick in the number of infections outside of the capital region as well as in imported cases.

Six cases were reported in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, stoking concerns that community spread may further accelerate outside the greater Seoul area.

The country reported 17 additional imported cases, raising the total number of such cases to 1,396. Of the newly identified cases, 11 were found at airport screening checkpoints.

In early May, the country eased its strict social distancing due to the flattened virus curve. The number of new daily cases peaked in late February at more than 900.

But a series of sporadic cluster infections in Seoul area soon emerged, putting great strains on the country's virus fight. Cases tied to a church and a door-to-door retailer in Daejeon reached 25 as of Thursday, up 10 from the previous day, according to the KCDC.

Infections in the greater Seoul area also showed no clear signs of a slowdown.

Cases traced to the door-to-door retailer reached 180 as of Thursday. Patients linked to small churches in the Seoul area came to 119.

A mechanic who visited the government complex in central Seoul last week also tested positive for the virus a day earlier, forcing the building to shut down its cafeteria. Two staff members who had contact with the patient, however, tested negative.

Health authorities thus imposed tougher infection preventive measures in the region in late May for two weeks, which was later extended indefinitely as cluster infections, along with asymptomatic, "silent" virus spreaders, increased.

Health authorities said that the country may roll back to strict distancing in daily life if the number of new cases falls back to single digits.

There were no additional deaths, keeping the total death toll to 280.

The fatality rate came to 2.27 percent.

The total number of people released from quarantine after full recoveries stood at 10,835, up 35 from the previous day.

South Korea has carried out 1,158,063 virus tests since Jan. 3. (Yonhap)