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SEOUL: South Korea recorded its second-highest daily number of coronavirus cases on Saturday (Dec 26) as outbreaks in a prison, nursing homes and churches continued to grow, prompting authorities to call for a cessation. of all year-end meetings.
The country reported another 1,132 new coronavirus cases as the resurgence worsened during Christmas week, putting pressure on the government to enforce stricter social distancing controls.
Figures released by the Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency brought the country’s number of cases to 55,902. South Korea added 1,241 cases on Christmas Day, its biggest daily increase. Another 220 people had died in the past 15 days, bringing the death toll to 793.
About 780 of the new cases occurred in the capital area, home to 26 million people, where health workers discovered a large group in a huge Seoul prison with more than 500 prisoners and workers. Broadcasts in recent weeks have also been linked to hospitals, nursing homes, churches, restaurants and army units.
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“The virus is spreading whenever and wherever it wants,” Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said at a meeting within the agency, adding that people were also getting infected in small gatherings with friends and acquaintances.
“Now that we are at the crossroads of the third wave, how we stop the spread depends on how we spend this end of the year and the New Year period.”
After months of complacency, government officials reinstated some distancing restrictions in recent weeks after reducing them to the lowest level in October and are now cracking down on private gatherings, closing ski resorts, restricting hotel occupancy. and establishing fines for restaurants if they accept large groups. .
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The government will hold a meeting Sunday to determine whether to raise distancing controls to the highest “Level 3,” which could possibly shut down hundreds of thousands of non-essential businesses. Officials have resisted such action for weeks, saying it could unleash a greater impact on an already weak economy.
The current largest group is in a prison in eastern Seoul, where 514 inmates and workers have been infected, prompting health authorities to test everyone there. The virus is likely to spread easily as the prison consists of five high-rise buildings and suffers from overcapacity, a health official said.
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