New Coronavirus Outbreak: South Korea Reports 516 Cases

By Staff, Agencies

South Korea announced 516 new coronavirus cases, most of them in and around the city of Daegu, where a secretive religious sect has been at the center of the outbreak in the country.

The new cases that were reported by the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday bring the national tally to 5,328, with at least 32 deaths.

The flu-like virus has spread rapidly among the members of the Shincheonji religious group in South Korea, particularly in Daegu, the country’s fourth-biggest city, with a population of more than 2.5 million.

Health officials expect the number of cases to increase for the next days as they complete the testing of more than 200,000 members of the religious sect, as well as thousands of other suspected cases from smaller clusters.

Hospitals’ in the country’s hardest hit areas are scrambling to accommodate the surge in new patients. Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said 2,300 people were waiting to be admitted to hospitals and temporary medical facilities in Daegu.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a cabinet meeting that “special measures” to cope with the emergency.

The new coronavirus, recently named COVID-19, can cause various symptoms ranging from those of the common cold to more severe diseases such as pneumonia. Common signs include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and other respiratory complications.

The virus, which emerged in central China in late December last year, has so far claimed more than 3,000 lives worldwide.