New infections exceed 200 for 2nd day
A police officer wearing a protective suit patrols as workers hold a rally to demand better working conditions in Seoul, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. AP
South Korea's new coronavirus cases exceeded 200 for a second straight day on Sunday due to cluster infections, with health authorities considering raising the social distancing scheme by a notch in the five-tier system.
The country added 208 more COVID-19 cases, including 176 local infections, raising the total caseload to 28,546, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The daily new cases stayed in the triple digits for the eighth consecutive day. The cases exceeded 200 for the first time in 73 days with a mark of 205 on Saturday.
KDCA reported one additional death, raising the total to 493. The fatality rate came to 1.73 percent.
Health authorities attributed the sharp growth to chains of cluster infections from private gatherings and public facilities, which made it more complicated for them to identify transmission routes.
Among the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 81 cases, and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital city reported 41. The greater Seoul area houses around half of the nation's population.
The country added 32 imported cases. Asian countries accounted for 16 cases, followed by the United States with 10 and Europe with six.
The number of seriously or critically ill patients came to 56, up two from Friday, while the number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries came to 25,691, up 55 from the previous day.
South Korea has carried out 2,786,878 COVID-19 tests, including 36,378 from Saturday.
The country saw its number of daily new infections peak at 909 in late February, after a minor church sect in Daegu reported major cluster infections.
The country faced another wave of pandemic in August, with the figure reaching 441 on Aug. 27 due to cases traced to a church in northern Seoul, coupled with an anti-government demonstration.
With signs of a possible slowdown, however, South Korea has kept the Level 1 social distancing scheme under a new five-tier system nationwide since earlier this month, although some cities and provincial governments upped their virus infection prevention measures.
Asan and Cheonan, both located in South Chungcheong Province, adopted tougher measures two weeks ago. Wonju in Gangwon Province and Gwangyang and Suncheon in South Jeolla Province also raised their social distancing schemes to Level 1.5 last week.
Yeosu, located 455 kilometers south of Seoul, is also among the regions that enhanced their guidelines.
Under Level 1, people are required to follow basic guidelines, such as wearing masks, and gatherings of over 500 people are not recommended.
People are still allowed to carry on with most of their daily routines under Level 1.5, but gatherings of 100 or more people are regulated, though not completely banned.
In line with efforts to stem the spread of the virus, the country started slapping fines of up to 100,000 won (US$90) on people who fail to wear masks in public places. Operators of public facilities and rally organizers will be fined up to 3 million won if they fail to ensure that users or participants stick to the requirement. (Yonhap)