South Korea reported 161 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of infected patients in the country to 763, health authorities said on Monday, a day after the government raised its infectious disease alert to its highest level.
Of the new cases, 115 were linked to a church in the southeastern city of Daegu after a 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” who attended services there tested positive, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), reports South China Morning Post.
KCDC also reported the seventh death from the virus, a 62-year-old man from a hospital in Cheongdo, a county that saw surges in confirmed cases along with nearby Daegu in recent weeks.
Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the new outbreak, with Patient 31 having no recent record of overseas travel.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday said the government had raised the country’s disease alert by one notch to the fourth and highest level in a bid to contain a surge in new cases.
Of the total confirmed cases, more than 300 were linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus congregation in Daegu.
The escalation in the alert level allows the government to send extra resources to Daegu city and Cheongdo county, which were designated “special care zones” on Friday.
The alert level enables the government to forcibly prevent public activities and order the temporary closure of schools, the health ministry said.
The ministry also said Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun will take charge of policy decisions related to the virus outbreak, which is the first time the country’s prime minister has intervened to take over from a minister in this way.
“The coronavirus virus is more contagious and spreads quickly during the early stage of the outbreak, and therefore pre-emptive measures are needed considering a possibility that the virus could develop to a nationwide spread from a community spread,” health minister Park Neung-hoo told a news conference. “We believe a week to 10 days will be crucial to determine the spread of the coronavirus.”
Education minister Yoo Eun-hae told the news conference that kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools will start the new semester one week later on March 9, from March 2.
The last time South Korea raised the alert level to “red” was 11 years ago during the H1N1 outbreak, Yonhap reported.
Earlier on Sunday, the ruling Democratic Party asked the government for an extra budget and also to free up emergency funds from the existing budget worth 3.4 trillion won (US$2.82 billion) to tackle the outbreak. Parliament would hold a plenary session on Monday to discuss further measures, according to Yonhap.