This photo taken on Feb. 3, 2021, shows a vehicle carrying medical waste entering the Nambu Correctional Institution in southwestern Seoul, where nine inmates tested positive for COVID-19. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 400 after four days on Wednesday as cluster infections continue to rise despite extended virus curbs.
The country added 467 more COVID-19 cases, including 433 local infections, raising the total caseload to 79,311, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload rebounded after staying under 400 for the past three days.
The rebound comes after health authorities extended tough social distancing measures by another two weeks until Feb. 14.
The KDCA said authorities will discuss whether to ease the current distancing rules this week to help the self-employed and small businesses before the Lunar New Year holiday that starts later next week.
Daily infections have been slowing down since the third wave of the pandemic peaked at a record high of 1,241 on Dec. 25.
But the daily cases recently spiked due mainly to cluster infections involving correctional facilities and unauthorized education facilities run by a local Christian missionary group, called the International Mission (IM).
Another cluster infection appeared to have emerged Tuesday at the Nambu Correctional Institution in southwestern Seoul, with nine inmates who worked in the kitchen testing positive.
Cases tied to IM education facilities came to 389, up four from the previous day. Infections traced to a general hospital in eastern Seoul rose six to reach 58.
Patients linked to a church in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, reached 125, up six from a day earlier.
As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, the country reported 415 more cases, up 16 from the same time Tuesday, according to the health authorities and local governments. New cases are counted until midnight each day and announced the next morning.
Amid a flare-up in virus cases, the KDCA on Sunday extended Level 2.5 social distancing rules, the second highest in a five-tier scheme, in the greater Seoul area and Level 2 measures in other regions for two weeks to come.
Authorities remain cautious, saying relaxing the curbs runs the risk of an uptick as cluster infections have continued to pop up at religious facilities, hospitals and other risk-prone establishments.
Under the extended rules, gatherings of five or more people are also banned almost across the entire country. Restaurants and coffee shops are required to finish operations at 9 p.m.
This photo taken on Feb. 3, 2021, shows people receiving a coronavirus test at a medical facility at Seoul Station in central Seoul. (Yonhap)
Of the newly identified local infections, 184 cases were reported in Seoul and 107 cases in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, reported 18 more cases.
South Chungcheong Province reported 35 more virus cases and the southern port city of Busan added 18 more cases.
The country added 34 imported cases, increasing the total to 6,403. Fifteen cases came from Europe, followed by eight cases from Asian countries except for China, five from the United States and three from Africa.
The country added six more deaths, raising the total to 1,441. The fatality rate was 1.82 percent.
The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients reached 220, down from 224 a day earlier.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries stood at 69,299, up 524 from the previous day.
The country has carried out 5,756,714 coronavirus tests since Jan. 3, 2020. The country reported its first case on Jan. 20 last year.
Meanwhile, authorities on Wednesday warned against any meetings with people who have returned home from overseas countries in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus variant inside the local communities.
The KDCA said it identified five more cases of contagious variants of COVID-19, which were domestically transmitted, sparking concerns over the spread of the more transmissible virus.
Four people were confirmed to have been infected with the variant from Britain and one tested positive for the South African variant, raising the total caseload to 39.
“It’s badly needed to minimize contact with those who have returned home and their family members as well as it is a matter of time before the mutant virus spreads within the community,” the health agency said.
South Korea has extended the ban on passenger flights arriving from Britain, which has been in place since Dec. 23, until Feb. 11 to block the new virus variant that was first identified in Britain.
All foreign entrants are required to present papers showing negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests taken within 72 hours of their departure to the nation.
The pandemic, which started in China in late 2019, has killed nearly 2.3 million people worldwide and infected more than 103 million as of Feb. 1, 2021, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
(Yonhap)
