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SEOUL: South Korea reported more than 500 new COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row on Friday (Nov. 27), a level not seen in nearly nine months, as a third wave of infections spread across the country and the Authorities are rushing to provide more hospital beds. .
The daily count of 569 came a day after the numbers reached their highest level since March 6, when South Korea was recovering from the first major COVID-19 epidemic outside of China.
READ: South Korea reports highest COVID-19 spike since March
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun warned that daily infections could rise to 1,000 and lead to a major crisis, including a shortage of hospital beds, if social distancing measures and other restrictions fail to stop the spread.
“The situation is extremely serious and acute, as all 17 cities and metropolitan provinces and especially the 25 districts of Seoul are reporting new cases,” Chung said at a meeting on responses to COVID-19.
The government reimposed strict social distancing rules in the capital Seoul and surrounding regions this week, restricting dinners, religious services and evening entertainment. The move came just a month after similar restrictions were eased as a second wave of infections waned.
While the earliest outbreaks in South Korea emerged from a specific religious group or region, the latest emerged from a multitude of groups in and around the capital Seoul and is now spreading across the country, making it more difficult to track and contain.
Of the latest cases, 525 were transmitted domestically and more than 64 percent of them were from the Seoul metropolitan area, according to the Korea Agency for Disease Prevention and Control.
The share of new cases reported in the Seoul metropolitan area has declined steadily from around 85 percent earlier this month as the outbreak spread to other provinces such as South Gyeongsang and Gangwon. All 17 metropolitan cities and provinces reported new cases Thursday for the first time in months.
A woman wearing a face mask as a precaution against coronavirus crosses a stream at Cheonggye Creek in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov.26, 2020 (AP Photo / Lee Jin-man).
Chung urged authorities to secure more hospital beds to avoid shortages. The Health Ministry said there were enough beds available for now, but there could be a shortage in two to three weeks if cases continue to rise.
Previous waves quickly depleted hospital facilities, and the number of remaining beds for critical cases in the Seoul metropolitan area, a metropolis of 26 million people, once fell to nearly single digits.
In September, South Korea had around 500 intensive care beds for its 52 million people. The government promised to double the number by next year, including more than 110 this year.
The ratio is close to the average for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, but in previous waves of infection, many of these beds were used by less severe cases or patients with other ailments.
South Korea has reported total infections of 32,887, with 516 deaths.
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