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| (Yonhap) |
South Korea announced 266 new COVID-19 cases Monday, the first drop below 300 in 4 days, as authorities considered putting in place the highest-level of social distancing rules across the country to contain the sprawling outbreak.
Of the new cases, 258 were locally transmitted and eight were imported from overseas, with the total caseload at 17,665, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The tally, which counts cases up to midnight Sunday, marks a drop from the 397 new cases reported the previous day. The lower figure may be because of reduced COVID-19 testing conducted over the weekend — 13,236 virus tests carried out Sunday, compared to 15,386 tests on Saturday and 21,677 tests on Friday.
Korea saw its daily new cases exceed 300 for the previous three days, with infections reported in all provinces and major cities.
The number of daily infections has been in the triple digits since Aug. 14 when 103 new cases were reported, mostly traced to a Seoul-based church at the center of the country’s resurgence of COVID-19.
Of locally transmitted cases, the overwhelming majority were registered in the Greater Seoul area — 97 in Seoul, 20 in neighboring Incheon and 84 in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital.
Outside the Seoul metropolitan area, cases were reported in all administrative regions except in Daegu and Jeju Island — 10 cases each in Daejeon and North Chungcheong Province, seven each in South Jeolla Province and in South Chungcheong Province, six each in Gangwon Province and North Gyeongsang Province. Three cases were registered in Busan and one each in Gwangju, Ulsan, Sejong and South Gyeongsang Province.
If the infection rate does not slow down this week, the authorities said they will consider raising the level of social distancing rules to the highest in the three-tier system, tantamount to a lockdown.
The authorities already expanded the Level Two social distancing rules nationwide, under which 12 types of high-risk businesses should be shut down, gatherings of more than 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors are banned, among other measures.
Transmission routes for some 16 percent of the new cases reported for the past two weeks were unidentified as of Sunday.
At the center of resurgence of the virus in Korea are the Sarang Jeil Church and the Aug. 15 massive rally held in central Seoul. The number of cases traced to the Seoul-based church and the rally was 841 and 136, respectively, as of Sunday noon, according to the KCDC.
Seven of the confirmed patients are among 9,500 police officers who had been dispatched to the rally. They all belong to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.
Anonymous testing is being provided to those attended worship services at the church and the rally at local health clinics in Seoul until Aug. 26 as the authorities are struggling to trace the rally participants.
Of the eight imported cases, four were identified while the individuals were under mandatory self-quarantine in Korea, with the other four detected during the quarantine screening process at the border. Five of the newly diagnosed people were foreign nationals. Five cases originated in Asia, two from Europe and one from the United States.
So far, 14,219 people, or 80.4 percent, have been released from quarantine upon making full recoveries, up 19 from a day earlier. Some 3,137 people are receiving medical treatment under quarantine. Thirty-two people remain in serious or critical condition.
The death toll remains unchanged at 309. The overall fatality rate amounted to 1.75 percent — 2.05 percent for men and 1.5 percent for women — as of Monday. The fatality rate is 22.37 percent for those in their 80s or over and 7.57 percent for those in their 70s.
The country has carried out 1,804,422 tests since Jan. 3, with 47,995 people awaiting results as of Monday.
By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)
