By Hynohi Shin
SEUL (Reuters) – South Korea plans to discuss this week whether it needs to tighten distance rules, as daily coronavirus counts on Friday failed to revive the current curbs burst, hitting more hits, officials said.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,241 new coronavirus cases by midnight on Thursday, the highest daily count.
The daily number has hovered around 1,000 at record levels over the past few weeks, but the government opposed calls to impose a tougher Level 3 for at least the Seoul area, at least for economic reasons, calling it a last resort.
Level 3 sanctions mean a lockout of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, another 1.2 million businesses will close and only essential workers can be admitted to office fees.
Health authorities accused the outbreak in a Seoul jail for a fresh high daily get-together but said they would gather on Sunday to determine whether the gap needed to be tightened to level 3.
“The weekly average exceeded 1,000, but we still see it as a temporary phenomenon,” Yoon Tai-ho, a senior health ministry official, said in a briefing.
“But how will that affect our decision at level 3 … We will hold a meeting on Sunday and announce the result.”
The streets around the main cathedral and churches, which would otherwise be full of cars and worshipers, show local television footage as they hold Christmas online Christmas services with a gathering ban.
Several new restrictions were lifted this week, banning gatherings of more than four people, and suspending them at ski resorts and tourist destinations aimed at preventing the spread during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Prime Minister Chung Si-kin urged to implement anti-virus measures, especially in military and correctional facilities.
At the East Seoul prison, 478 inmates and 20 workers have tested positive so far, including 288 newly confirmed on Thursday.
Most people are cooperative, yet many condemn the distance rules, their doors were locked after 9pm and the lights were turned off, refusing to ban guests, said Chang, referring to some restaurants and bars.
More than 118,000 tests were carried out across the country on Thursday, UN said, as authorities have been conducting tests since last week to improve the symptoms of people of unknown origin and those infected.
South Korea had an early success in controlling the outbreak through aggressive testing and contact tracing, but that success led to more confidence that the government would end the third wave.
KDCA figures show that the total number of infections is 77070, of which 737373 people have died.
(Reporting by Hyunhi Shin and Jack Kim; Editing by Mr. Navataratnam)
