South Korea logs second-highest daily tally of COVID-19 cases amid prison, church outbreaks
Asia Today: S Korea's cases remain high as restrictions loom
People queue in line to wait for coronavirus testing while maintaining social distancing at coronavirus testing site in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec 26, 2020. (Photo: Hong Hyosik/Newsis via AP)
SEOUL: South Korea posted its second-highest daily number of coronavirus cases on Saturday (Dec 26) as outbreaks at a prison, nursing homes and churches continued to grow, prompting authorities to plead for a halt to all year-end gatherings.
The country reported another new 1,132 coronavirus cases as the resurgence worsened over Christmas week, putting pressure on the government to enforce stricter social distancing controls.
The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) brought the country’s caseload to 55,902. South Korea added 1,241 cases on Christmas Day, its largest daily increase. Another 220 people had died in the past 15 days, raising the death toll to 793.
Around 780 of the new cases were from the greater capital area, home to 26 million people, where health workers discovered a large cluster in a huge Seoul prison with more than 500 inmates and workers. Transmissions in recent weeks have also been tied to hospitals, nursing homes, churches, restaurants and army units.
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"The virus is spreading whenever and wherever it wants," Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol told an intra-agency meeting, adding that people were also being infected at small gatherings with friends and acquaintances.
"As we stand at the crossroads of the third wave, how we stop the spread hinges on how we spend this year-end and New Year period."
KDCA chief Jeong Eun-kyeong urged that all private gatherings be cancelled and public and religious events be held online.
After months of complacency, government officials restored some distancing restrictions in recent weeks after easing them to the lowest tier in October and are now clamping down on private gatherings, shutting down ski resorts, restricting hotel occupancy and setting fines for restaurants if they accept large groups.
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The government will hold a meeting on Sunday to determine whether to elevate distancing controls to the highest “Tier-3,” which could possibly shutter hundreds of thousands of non-essential businesses. Officials have resisted such action for weeks, saying it could unleash further shock on an already weak economy.
The current largest cluster is at a prison in eastern Seoul, where 514 inmates and workers have been infected, prompting health authorities to test all people there. The virus likely spread easily as the prison consists of five, high-rise buildings and suffers from over-capacity, a health official said.
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