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SEOUL: South Korea has recorded 629 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily count in about nine months.
The Korea Disease Prevention and Control Agency said on Friday (December 4) that 600 of the newly confirmed patients were nationally transmitted cases, nearly 80 percent of them in the densely populated area of Seoul, which has been in the center of a recent viral resurgence. .
It says the 629 new cases brought the country’s total to 36,332 from the pandemic, with 536 COVID-19-related deaths.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the situation was critical as infections continued to rise at an alarming rate despite the re-enforcement of social distancing rules late last month.
The government would decide on Sunday whether to update the restrictions, he said.
READ: South Korean students take university exams behind plastic barriers and in hospitals due to COVID-19
“It has been 10 days since we upgraded the social distancing rules to phase 2 in the Seoul metropolitan area, but the broadcast still seems unstoppable,” Chung said at a government meeting according to the Yonhap news agency.
After successfully suppressing two previous outbreaks this year, South Korea has been grappling with a further spike in infections since it relaxed strict social distancing rules in October. Last week, he tightened distancing restrictions in the Seoul metropolitan area and elsewhere.
Authorities are concerned that the college entrance exams that nearly half a million students took on Thursday could turn out to be another source of infections.
Chung urged students to refrain from visiting high-risk areas like karaoke bars and internet cafes as they celebrate the end of the exam period.
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