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| Residents of Guro-gu in southwestern Seoul wait to be tested for COVID-19 outside the district health center, Thursday. /Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
Korea appears to have entered the much-feared second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reporting 441 new coronavirus infections Wednesday, the highest daily total since March.
The KCDC said 313 of the cases were in the Seoul metropolitan area where more than half of the country's population lives. The remaining 121 were reported nationwide, the first time for the figure to exceed 100 since the nation saw a triple-digit increase two weeks ago. The total number of COVID-19 cases has now reached to 18,706, with 313 fatalities so far.
The quarantine authorities said the outbreak over the last two weeks posed a bigger threat than the first one in Daegu that began in February. While most cases there were linked to one church, the recent cases in the capital have involved many smaller outbreaks with unclear transmission routes.
Officials said the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been trying to locate 51,242 people who participated in an anti-government rally Aug. 15 who now have high risk of having been infected, adding they are still trying to identify protesters using data provided by telecommunications companies.
The authorities said they had traced 639 members of the Sarang Jeil Church, a Presbyterian church based in Seoul and one of the most recent infection clusters, who attended the Aug. 15 rally, among whom 79 have tested positive for COVID-19.
More than 7,000 schools across the country remained closed to protect students from infection, and are receiving tuition online.
Meanwhile, medical experts called for the government to immediately impose tighter restrictions without delay. Kim Woo-joo, a professor from Korea University Guro Hospital, said the government should tighten social distancing measures before the healthcare system collapses. "If the government hesitates too long, a situation can arise where a complete lockdown will be necessary."
Yoon Tae-ho, director general for public health policy, said a discussion on imposing tougher measures was underway. "We'll decide on the matter as soon as possible," Yoon said, noting that it was not an easy decision to make because the impact on people's lives, as proven in March and April, would be quite significant.
The government also urged the country's doctors to cancel a strike they initiated Wednesday, saying the action could worsen the nation's healthcare services to the point of a complete collapse.
"That doctors go on strike now is equivalent to soldiers leaving the battlefield during the war. The collective action by doctors is causing fear and inconvenience for citizens," President Moon Jae-in said Thursday.
On Wednesday, the government issued an administrative order for 358 doctors to return to work, threatening non-compliance would result in fines or the temporary suspension of their medical licenses. The government also filed a complaint against the Korea Medical Association with the Fair Trade Commission for encouraging doctors to join the strike.
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