New COVID-19 cases over 600 for 2nd day
A medical worker attends a training session to learn how to give coronavirus vaccine shots at the Korean Nurses Association in Seoul, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. AP
South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 600s for a second consecutive day on Thursday as infections at a slew of manufacturing plants and hospitals surged, prompting authorities to guard against a potential virus resurgence.
The country reported 621 more COVID-19 cases, including 590 local infections, raising the total caseload to 85,567, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The country added six more deaths, raising the total to 1,544.
The daily caseload remained in the 300s from Saturday to Monday due mainly to less testing over the holiday that began Thursday of last week, but it bounced back to 457 on Tuesday and shot up to 621 on Wednesday, the highest in more than a month.
Health authorities said they were closely monitoring the latest uptick in new virus cases to figure out whether it is an early sign of a virus resurgence or the result of the increased testing after the holiday season.
A series of infections at industrial factories and hospitals have posed challenges to the country's antivirus efforts, especially after social distancing rules were eased for business owners Monday.
A boiler factory in a central region has reported 129 cases in four days after the first case was identified, and a plastic factory in Namyangju, 20 some kilometers east of Seoul, reported 115 cases en masse Wednesday.
Soonchunhyang University Hospital and Hanyang University Hospital, which are general hospitals in the capital, have reported over 100 cases among their staff, patients and their caregivers.
"The number of new cases has been rising on private gatherings during the Lunar New Year holiday and group infections at workplaces, religious facilities and medical institutions," Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said in a virus response meeting.
Kwon said related agencies will closely monitor large workplaces where workers stay in closed and crowded settings, as well as factories that accommodate foreign employees in dormitories, to prevent group infections.
"If group infections take place at workplaces due to violation of health regulations, related agencies will have to take all possible measures, including damage claims," Kwon said.
Authorities warned of a potential virus resurgence tied to holiday traveling, saying they could tighten the restrictions if the number of new cases continues to increase.
Officials are mulling revising the current distancing scheme in a more sustainable mode for business owners, but they said the new system could only go into effect next month at the earliest if the country's virus curve flattens in the next two weeks.
Currently, the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the nation's 52 million population, is under Level 2 distancing ― the third highest in a five-tier system ― and other areas are at Level 1.5.
The adjustment allows restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, nightclubs and bars in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province to remain open for an hour longer until 10 p.m.
Of the 590 locally transmitted cases, 179 cases were reported in Seoul and 237 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province. Incheon, 40 km west of Seoul, had 16 new cases.
The KDCA said 31 cases were from abroad, with 11 from the United States, three from Jordan, and two each from Indonesia, the Philippines, Hungary and Japan.
The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients was 161, down eight from the previous day.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 75,896, up 536 from a day earlier. (Yonhap)