S. Korea steps up containment efforts as virus cases jump to 156
(Yonhap)
South Korea said Friday the new coronavirus is spreading across the country, but it is in the initial stage of a full-blown outbreak and still “manageable,” although the number of infections has almost tripled in just three days.
The country reported 52 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing its total number of infections to 156, the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.
Most new infections have been traced to church services in the southeastern city of Daegu.
Daegu, where the 2.5 million inhabitants have been asked to stay indoors, and neighboring Cheongdo were designated as a “special management zone” earlier in the day. The nation’s capital, Seoul, banned demonstrations in downtown areas.
Of the 52 new cases, 41 are in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and the neighboring North Gyeongsang Province. Another three were reported in Seoul, the KCDC said.
The health authorities vowed to make more containment efforts as the potentially fatal illness spreads fast across the country.
Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo told reporters that the health authorities will allow hospitals to separate respiratory patients from others in an effort to prevent human-to-human transmissions at hospitals.
Health authorities will also check all pneumonia patients in Daegu hospitals, Park said.
Still, the authorities have kept the virus alert at the third-highest, or “orange,” level, but the virus response will be carried out with an urgency appropriate to the “red” level, Park said.
The spike of infections in Daegu and several cases in Seoul, where routes of infections are not immediately traceable, have prompted health officials to declare that COVID-19 has begun spreading locally.
The KCDC said two new cases were reported in South Gyeongsang Province. In a sign that the virus may broadly spread nationwide, six provinces, including Gyeonggi, Jeju, Chungcheong and North Jolla, each reported one case.
Of the 52 new cases, 39 are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, where the 31st patient, the country’s probable “super spreader,” attended worship services, the KCDC said.
A 61-year-old South Korean woman, who tested positive for the virus earlier this week, attended worship services at the church on Feb. 9 and this past Sunday.
The total accumulated number of confirmed cases in Daegu and its neighboring North Gyeongsang Province stood at 111, with the number of cases linked to the Daegu church coming to 82.
The number of confirmed cases at the Daenam Hospital in Cheongdo, near Daegu, stood at 16, including five nurses, the KCDC said.
On Wednesday, a South Korean man, age 63, died at the same hospital and posthumously tested positive for the flu-like virus.
In a separate statement, the KCDC said the man with chronic pneumonia had been hospitalized for a long time, and he died as the illness worsened.
A group of health experts suspected the man died from the virus, but they expressed opinions that his death might have been also caused by other factors, the KCDC said.
The 31st patient also visited Cheongdo before testing positive for the virus, but she did not visit the Daenam Hospital, the KCDC said, adding that a larger probe is needed to identify how the 16 people at the hospital, including five medical staff members, were infected by the virus.
South Korea is set to release one more fully recovered novel coronavirus patient from a hospital later in the day, the KCDC said. So far, a total of 16 patients have been discharged.
The number of people being checked for the virus and under quarantine came to 2,707 as of early Friday, up from 1,860 a day earlier, the KCDC said.
South Korea has screened 14,816 people for COVID-19 since Jan. 3, with 11,953 testing negative and 16 patients having been discharged from quarantine after making full recoveries. (Yonhap)
Source:http:koreaherald.com/