While the number of new coronavirus cases reported in South Korea remained below 100 for a fourth straight day on Wednesday, cases in the capital area continued to rise, raising concerns over mass transmission in the region, home to 25 million people.
Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, reported 15 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 277, according to the latest data by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
This means that the province is now the most affected area outside Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, which were deemed the epicenters of the virus here.
While the KCDC is set to release details on the figures at 2 p.m., the new cases are assumed to trace back to a church in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, where Sunday services took place despite the government’s social distancing advice.
At least 61 patients have been reported in relation to the church, including the church’s pastor and his wife, according to local government officials.
Seoul reported five more cases, bringing the city’s total infections to 270, while Incheon, the port city west of Seoul, added just one more case to reach 32.
In separate data compiled before 10 a.m., the Seoul city government said that at least 274 cases have been reported there.
Among the cases are a man in his twenties who recently arrived from France and a man in his thirties who returned from a trip to Spain.
With imported cases on the rise, South Korea’s foreign ministry has heightened its travel advisory for Europe, where cases have been rising at an alarming level.
On Thursday, the government is set to expand a special entrance procedure for all international arrivals. (Yonhap)
