New virus cases tumble on sharp fall in imported cases

Visitors wearing face masks to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus sit while maintaining social distancing at the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, Saturday, July 25, 2020. AP

South Korea's new coronavirus cases dropped to under 60 on Sunday, a day after the country recorded its highest figure in nearly four months due to a surge in infections among people arriving from abroad.

The country added 58 new cases, including 46 cases from abroad, bringing the total to 14,150, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The number of new infections was down sharply compared to 113 the previous day, but health authorities are on alert over a possible spike in both local and imported cases. It marked the first time since April 1 for the country to report more than 100 cases. South Korea reported its first case on Jan. 20.

After falling below 30 for the first time in more than three weeks on Monday, the country's new virus cases gradually increased throughout the week on locally transmitted cases from a nursing home, churches and a front-line military base.

Imported cases, however, also have increased by double-digit daily figures for 30 consecutive days.

The sharp fall was attributed to a sharp drop in the number of imported cases, the KCDC said.

On Saturday, South Korea reported 86 cases from its workers returning home from Iraq and Russian sailors.

Some 300 South Korean workers returned home aboard two military flights from the Middle Eastern country on Friday, with around 90 of them showing virus symptoms. Some 30 sailors on a Russia-flagged fishing vessel docked in the southeastern city of Busan were also confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus.

Of the newly confirmed imported cases, 38 were from Iraq, followed by four from the United States, two from Russia and each one from India and Hong Kong, according to the KCDC. All of the 38 new patients from Iraq were from among the South Korean workers who arrived from the country, which increased to 74 the number of confirmed patients in the group.

Local infections also decreased to 12 from 27 the previous day, the KCDC said. Of the latest cases, 10 were from the capital city of Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

The southeastern port city of Busan and Gwangju in the southwestern part of the country also reported one infection each.

The number of domestic infections fell to around 10 after hovering around 20 to 30 for the past five days.

In the Seoul metropolitan area, new additional cases were reported mainly from the government office building, churches and nursing homes.

There were no additional deaths, keeping the total death toll at 298.

The total number of people released from quarantine after full recoveries came to 12,890, up 24 from the previous day.

South Korea has carried out 1,522,926 tests since Jan. 3. (Yonhap)