New virus cases at over 2-month low amid extended curbs
SEOUL. KAZINFORM South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases rose by the smallest amount in over two months to stay in the 300s for the second straight day on Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend amid extended tough virus curbs.
The country added 305 more COVID-19 cases, including 285 local infections, raising the total caseload to 78,508, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Yonhap reports.
The figure fell from 355 cases Sunday, 458 Saturday and 469 Friday. On Sunday, the tally fell back to the 300s for the first time in five days. Monday's daily caseload also marks the lowest since Nov. 23 when the corresponding figure was 271.
New virus cases recently spiked again due mainly to cluster infections from unauthorized education facilities run by a local Christian missionary group, called the International Mission (IM).
Cases tied to IM education facilities came to 384 as of noon, up five from the previous day. Infections traced to a general hospital in eastern Seoul rose 16 over the past 24 hours to 47. Patients linked to a nursing home in the southern port city of Busan reached 84, up two from a day earlier.
As of 6 p.m. Monday, the country added 244 more cases, up 11 from the same time Sunday, according to the health authorities and local governments.
New cases are counted until midnight each day and announced the next morning.
The capital area accounted for 179 new infections, with 108 in Seoul, 63 in Gyeonggi Province and eight in Incheon, west of the capital.
South Korea had managed to bring two waves of virus infections under control since the pandemic began early last year, but health authorities are struggling to contain the current wave because cluster infections continue to emerge in the densely populated capital area.
Amid a flare-up in virus cases, authorities on Sunday extended Level 2.5 social distancing rules, the second highest in its five-tier scheme, in the greater Seoul area, home to half of its 51.6 million population, and Level 2 measures in other regions for another two weeks until Feb. 14.
Under the extended rules, private gatherings of more than five people are banned across the country during the designated period.
The KDCA expects the ban on private gatherings will help stem the spread of the virus during the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on Feb. 11 and runs through Sunday, as Koreans travel across the nation to meet their family members and relatives.