Fears growing over virus resurgence: New cases spike to two-month high

Greater Seoul area delays easing distancing rules for 1 week

By Jun Ji-hye

The health authorities were on full alert Wednesday after the number of new daily COVID-19 cases here neared 800 ― the highest in over two months ― Tuesday amid continuous infection clusters being reported in the Seoul metropolitan area, according to officials.

Concerns are especially growing as the spike in new daily infections came a day before the government implements a new social distancing system, such as allowing businesses to extend their operating hours and easing restrictions on social gatherings, as the administration's vaccination drive continues.

Due to concerns of the eased rules increasing infection rates, local administrations in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area have decided to delay adopting the new system for a week.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 794 more coronavirus infections, 759 of which were local, raising the total caseload to 156,961.

The latest figure, which was up from 595 identified the previous day, marked the highest in 68 days.

Among the 759 local cases, 631, or 83.1 percent, were reported in the Seoul metropolitan area, which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.

The KDCA said the average number of daily cases in the Seoul metropolitan area for the week starting June 24 was tallied at 464.9, up from 327.3 the previous week.

One of the more worrisome cases among the recent infection clusters was traced to a bar near Hongik University, western Seoul, where six foreign teachers, working at different English-language cram schools in several cities in Gyeonggi Province, met together June 19 and became infected.

So far, 213 cases have been traced to the bar patrons, and among these the teachers spread the infection to other instructors, and students and their families. The KDCA said the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus had also been detected among these cases, noting that it needs to check how many people may have been infected with this strain.

The authorities said further infection clusters are being reported at other cram schools, bars and entertainment facilities mostly used by young people.

“The latest spike in the number of infections is attributable to increased cases among young people in their 20s or 30s who have not yet been vaccinated,” Yoon Tae-ho, a senior official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said during a media briefing. “We ask young people to pay particular attention to coronavirus developments to prevent further infections.”

Adding to concerns is an increasing rate of infections by variants of the coronavirus, especially the Delta strain.

The country confirmed 267 cases of four variants, including 73 Delta cases, between June 20 and 26. The number of such infections has reached 2,492, with the number of Delta cases tallied at 263.

The government initially planned to apply Level 2 social distancing measures ― under the new four-tier distancing system ― to the Seoul metropolitan area from Thursday, as announced earlier. New Level 2 rules allow eateries, cafes and entertainment facilities to operate until midnight, a two-hour extension from the current 10 p.m., and increase the limit of private gatherings to a maximum of eight people from the current four.

But it acknowledged that the situation in the area is nearing the benchmark for Level 3. “If infections in the Seoul metropolitan area continue to increase and meet the conditions for Level 3, we will make a prompt decision,” Yoon said.

Against this backdrop, Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province decided not to implement the new measures immediately but to delay them for a week. They delivered the decision to the central government, which said it respected their move.

The previous system will therefore remain in use in these areas, such as limiting the number of people for private gatherings at four, and the operating hours of eateries, cafes, gyms and entertainment facilities.

After one week, they will decide whether to continue with the previous system or implement the new one, according to their infection situations.

Some experts have expressed concerns over the application of the new eased rules.

“We should remember that the government's decision to ease social distancing rules last year led to the third wave of infections back then,” said Lee Jae-gab, a professor of infectious diseases at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital. “The government should raise the distancing rules to Level 3 in Seoul, at least temporarily.”