| The daily number of new COVID-19 cases here fell back to below 600 for Friday, following a nine-month high the previous day, with the health authorities remaining on critical alert over a bigger wave of the pandemic during winter. Yonhap |
The daily number of new COVID-19 cases here fell back to below 600 for Friday, following a nine-month high the previous day, with the health authorities remaining on critical alert over a bigger wave of the pandemic during winter.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), 583 more infections were added, including 559 local case, raising the total caseload to 36,915. Four additional coronavirus deaths were also reported bringing the total to 540.
The KDCA said an average 514.6 daily new cases occurred over the past week.
South Korea reported more than 500 daily new infections for three consecutive days through last Saturday, before briefly falling back to 450 cases Sunday due to less testing over the weekend.
The increase in daily cases stayed above 500 for the second consecutive day Wednesday and topped the high from nine months ago Thursday, with 629 cases.
Amid concerns that the country could face its biggest crisis to date, the authorities have said they will monitor the current pace and decide Sunday on whether to adopt additional social distancing measures after imposing Level 2 restrictions nearly two weeks ago.
A larger concern is that the greater Seoul area, home to half of the country's population, has been witnessing daily new cases soar to record highs over the past few days.
On Friday, the Seoul city government announced that multiple business facilities must close after 9 p.m. for two weeks. They include stores, movie theaters, internet cafes, game arcades, private academies, study halls, amusement parks, beauty salons, barber shops, large grocery stores and department stores. They can reopen at 5 a.m.
By region, 231 new coronavirus cases were reported in Seoul, 150 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, and 19 in Incheon, west of Seoul, accounting for more than 77 percent of the country's daily new locally transmitted infections. The greater Seoul area is home to around half of the nation's 51.6 million population.
Other municipalities also reported new infections, with the southern port city of Busan reporting 29, followed by South Gyeongnam Province with 27.
A total of 159 new cases were reported outside of the greater Seoul area Saturday, exceeding the 100 mark every day since Nov. 24, except for Thursday.
The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 121 as of midnight, the KDCA said.
The country added 24 imported cases, down from 29 a day earlier, coming mainly from the United States and Asian countries, excluding China.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making a recovery stood at 28,917, up 306 from the previous day. (Yonhap)