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SEOUL: South Korea reported 205 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Friday, surpassing 200 for the first time since September, the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency (KDCA) said on Saturday (November 14).
Of the new cases, 166 were of national transmission and 39 were imported. More than 65% of the locally transmitted cases came from Seoul and Gyeonggi province, a densely populated region near the capital.
South Korea began fining people who don’t wear masks in public on Friday, as it reported 191 new coronavirus cases, and daily infections continue to rise.
People caught without masks in public places, including nightclubs, shopping malls, theme parks and hair salons, face fines of up to 100,000 won (US $ 89.75), while operators of those places could pay up to 3 million won in fines.
Four South Korean footballers and one staff member tested positive for COVID-19, Yonhap reported on Saturday, citing the Korea Football Association, adding that all five are currently not showing any symptoms.
President Moon Jae-in urged authorities and local governments to increase their awareness of the spread of the coronavirus, reinforcing close monitoring of safety guidelines, such as the mandatory use of masks.
“As we are the point of most travel and meetings, it would be difficult to maintain the current quarantine stage” of the nation’s social distancing scheme, Moon said in a Facebook post.
“If we let our guard down and ignore quarantine measures, our jobs and daily lives would be in jeopardy and further damage and suffering could result,” Moon added.
The country is “getting closer” to the need to toughen social distancing, as confirmed cases rise substantially, senior KDCA official Lim Sook-young said in a briefing.
Confirmed daily cases averaged 122.4 this week, jumping from 88.7 last week and 75.3 in the fourth week of October, according to the KDCA.
The latest daily count was slightly up from 191 the day before, bringing the country’s total number of infections to 28,338 with 492 deaths, the KDCA said.
The government is in final talks with global drug makers about potential COVID-19 vaccines as it seeks to secure supplies to cover 60 percent of its population this year.
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