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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s capital closed more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars, and nightclubs after dozens of coronavirus infections linked up with club goers who came out last weekend as the country relaxed the patterns of social distancing.
The measures imposed on Saturday by Seoul Mayor Park Won-pronto came after the national government urged entertainment venues across the country to shut down or enforce anti-virus measures, such as distancing, temperature controls, maintaining customer lists and requiring employees to wear masks.
Park said the facility’s entry bans will remain in place until the city concludes that infection risks have been significantly reduced.
The South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or KCDC, said earlier in the day that 18 new cases were reported in the 24-hour midnight period on Friday, all but one related to a 29-year-old man. who visited three clubs in Seoul’s Itaewon District last Saturday before testing positive the following days.
But Park said 16 more cases were confirmed in Seoul alone in the following hours. He said this brought the total number of club-linked infections to 40 to 27 in Seoul, 12 in neighboring Incheon and Gyeonggi and one in the southern port city of Busan.
The KCDC, which collects data from local governments, could not immediately confirm Park’s numbers. But senior KCDC official Kwon Joon-wook expressed concern that club-goers could spread “secondary infections from where they live.”
The number of infections could increase as health workers strive to trace the contacts of club attendees. Park said health workers have been trying to contact about 1,940 people who are listed as visitors to the three Itaewon clubs and other nearby locations, but so far they have only been able to reach 637 of them.
South Korea has confirmed at least 10,840 coronavirus cases, including 256 deaths.
Fewer cases in the previous weeks had allowed to relax the patterns of social distancing and a gradual reopening of schools.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– DOZENS FLEE INDIA QUARANTINE CENTER: About 70 people fled a quarantine center in the Indian state of Nawada district in Bihar, alleging poor facilities and lack of food. They are among the tens of thousands of migrant workers who left the cities of India when a national blockade against the coronavirus was imposed on March 25, walking to their home villages for fear of starvation if they remained. Television news channels broadcast images of migrants fleeing the center on Saturday with their belongings. The incident is the latest in a pattern of people fleeing quarantine centers in India complaining of lack of sanitation and lack of food and water. In a separate incident, more than 20 migrants fled a quarantine center in the Katihar district in northeast Bihar, also complaining about the lack of adequate food and services. India has confirmed nearly 60,000 coronavirus cases, including 1,981 deaths.
– KIM WRITES TO PUTIN: North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II and wish Russia success in fighting its outbreak of coronavirus. Kim had previously sent a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, praising what he described as China’s success in controlling its COVID-19 epidemic. Some experts say the North could intensify its diplomatic outreach to neighbors, particularly China, as it seeks financial aid after closing its border for months to fend off the virus.
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Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
