New virus cases in 400s for 5th day amid concerns over resurgence
A nurse fills a syringe with the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus at a vaccination center in Seoul, Saturday, March 20, 2021. AP
South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 400s for a fifth day on Sunday, with continued sporadic clusters in the greater Seoul area adding to concerns over a resurgence in cases.
The country reported 456 more COVID-19 cases, including 437 local infections, raising the total caseload to 98,665, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The country added three more deaths from COVID-19, increasing the total to 1,696. The fatality rate was 1.72 percent, the health agency said.
The daily caseload was slightly up from 452 on Saturday. After spiking up to the 600s in February, the figure had stabilized to as low as the 300s recently.
Daily infections fell to the 300s on Monday and Tuesday on fewer tests over the weekend, but they rebounded to the 400s on Wednesday.
Despite extended preventive quarantine measures, cluster infections have shown no signs of letting up in the densely populated greater Seoul area, which is home to roughly half of the country's 52 million population. This led the government to extend virus curb measures that were set to expire on March 14 for another two weeks until March 28.
The greater Seoul area has been under the current Level 2 social distancing measures, the third highest in the five-tier curbs, since February. The measures include attendance caps at schools, religious activities and sports events.
Of the 437 locally transmitted cases, 124 came from Seoul and 155 were reported from Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. Incheon, just west of Seoul, reported 20 more cases. The three areas that make up the greater Seoul area accounted for 72 percent of all locally transmitted cases.
The number of imported cases came to 19, up from 12 the previous day. Cases from Asian countries except for China stood at 11, with cases from Africa, Europe and the United States at four, three and one, respectively.
The number of patients with serious symptoms across the country reached 104, up from 102 a day earlier.
The number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries rose 379 to 90,328. (Yonhap)