Rising new cases spell peril for virus fight; areas outside capital under threat of more infections
A woman wearing a face mask to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walks by an advertisement of a hair shop, left, at a shopping district in Seoul, Thursday, July 2, 2020. AP
South Korea's daily new virus cases hit the highest level in two weeks on Friday as infections outside the Seoul metropolitan area showed a sustained increase, raising concerns that the country's infections may get back on an upward trajectory.
The country added 63 cases, including 52 local infections, raising the total caseload to 12,967, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The tally marked the highest since 67 cases reported on June 20 and a rise from 54 reported a day earlier.
It was the first time that the number of local infections hovered above the threshold of 50 since June 18.
Of the locally transmitted infections, six cases were newly identified in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, where double-digit numbers of new virus cases had been reported for the previous two days.
The increase from the city was mainly attributable to a Buddhist temple. The number of cases linked to the facility rose by a whopping 30 to reach 49 on Thursday.
The greater Seoul area reported 12 new cases, with its surrounding Gyeonggi Province adding 16 new infections.
Daegu, once the hotbed of the country's virus outbreak, added 13 new cases. The city accounts for more than half of the country's COVID-19 cases here, due to thousands of virus infections traced to a religious sect in the city.
It marked the first time for Daegu to post a double-digit number of new patients in around three months. The latest spike was attributable to cluster infections from an acting school.
Daejeon, a central city 164 kilometers south of Seoul, also reported four more infections.
Earlier this week, two elementary students in Daejeon also tested positive after coming in contact with a peer.
Health authorities said one of the two is highly likely to have been infected at the school. If confirmed, it would mark the first case of the virus being transmitted at a school in South Korea.
Schools were given the full go-ahead to hold offline classes in June, but some of them were forced to shut down due to sporadic cluster infections. The country normally begins a new semester in March.
No further secondary infections from schools have been reported so far, but parents are increasingly concerned about the safety of their children. The number of schools closed temporarily due to the coronavirus outbreak rose to 522 nationwide Thursday, the most over the past month.
Over the past two months, densely populated Seoul and the surrounding area, which house around half of the country's 51-million population, took up most of the newly added cases here.
The trend has prodded health authorities to focus on curbing the spread of the virus in the greater Seoul area. Last month, they decided to indefinitely apply toughened infection preventive measures in the region amid the growing number of patients from clubs and door-to-door businesses.
With other major cities reporting new cluster infections, health authorities, however, are increasingly under pressure to consider readopting the scheme elsewhere.
The country reported no additional deaths, with the death toll staying at 282. The fatality rate was 2.17 percent.
The number of new imported cases reached 11, marking a double-digit rise for the eighth consecutive day.
The total number of people released from quarantine after full recoveries stood at 11,759, up 75 from the previous day. This indicates that more than 90 percent of the COVID-19 patients here have been cured.
The country has carried out 1,307,761 tests since Jan. 3. (Yonhap)