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SEOUL (REUTERS) – South Korean officials rushed Monday (May 11) to contain a new coronavirus outbreak that threatens to spread throughout the densely populated capital, prompting the country to reconsider plans to reopen schools.
Authorities reported 35 new infections across the country as of midnight Sunday (May 10), the second consecutive day of new cases of that magnitude and the highest numbers in more than a month, reinforcing fears of that the country could be entering a second wave outbreak.
The 69 cases reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) in the past 48 hours were equivalent to the number of cases recorded for the entire previous week.
Most of the new cases were related to an outbreak at various Seoul nightclubs and bars. Authorities had evaluated 4,000 people who had sponsored the nightclubs, but were still trying to locate 3,000 more.
“Our top priority is to minimize the spread of infections in the Seoul metropolitan area,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a meeting with government officials on Monday.
Chung called on local governments to mobilize as many personnel as possible and to work with the police to locate the missing clients, some of whom the authorities suspect are avoiding intentional examination.
“We should find and test them quickly, and speed is key,” he said.
The increase in cases comes just as the South Korean government eased some restrictions on social distancing and moved to reopen schools and businesses entirely, in a transition from intensive social distancing to “distancing from everyday life.”
Seoul’s superintendent of education has proposed delaying the reopening of schools scheduled to start Wednesday (May 13) by one week in light of the new outbreak, Yonhap news agency reported.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-pronto pleaded with club attendees to conduct the tests, warning that people caught evading the tests could be fined.
“If Seoul was penetrated, the nation is at risk,” he said, noting that the city currently has fewer than 700 of the nation’s 10,909 cases, which include 256 deaths.
In a speech to the nation on Sunday, President Moon Jae-in warned that “it will not end until it ends,” adding that the new group shows that the virus can be widely spread at any time.
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