South Korea reported 98 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, down from 147 new cases a day earlier, bringing the nation’s total infections to 8,897 amid lingering concerns about new cluster infections and imported virus cases.
The 98 new cases detected Saturday are in line with last week’s double-digit daily new infections, except for Wednesday and Friday’s numbers.
So far, 104 people, mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses, have died in South Korea from the respiratory virus that emerged in China late last year, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.
About 60 percent of the confirmed cases have been linked to a branch of the Shincheonji religious sect in the southeastern city of Daegu, which has a population of 2.5 million and is the country’s fourth-largest city.
The pace of daily new infections has shown marked signs of slowing since the second week of this month as health authorities completed extensive testing of 210,000 Shincheonji followers.
But the authorities are still on high alert over new clusters of infections, including at a call center in Seoul’s Guro district and Protestant churches in Gyeonggi Province surrounding Seoul.
Also, the authorities are closely monitoring new confirmed cases coming from outside of the country as 11 new cases were reported. Earlier in the day, the country began conducting new coronavirus tests on all arrivals from Europe and requiring even those with negative results to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine.
Of the 98 new cases, 43 are in Daegu and 11 are in surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, the KCDC said. The total number of confirmed cases in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, the two epicenters of the virus outbreak here, stood at 6,387 and 1,254, respectively.
Other major provinces and cities have also reported some infections, with Seoul reporting 10 additional cases, bringing the total confirmed cases to 324. (Yonhap)
