South Korea logs second-highest daily tally of COVID-19 conditions amid prison, church outbreaks
26 December, 2020
South Korea posted its second-highest daily number of coronavirus situations on Saturday (Dec 26) as outbreaks at a prison, nursing homes and churches continued to grow, prompting authorities to plead for a good halt to all or any 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 brought the country’s caseload to 55,902. South Korea added 1,241 circumstances on Christmas Working day, its major daily increase. Another 220 people had died previously 15 times, raising the loss of life toll to 793.
Around 780 of the new circumstances were from the greater capital area, residence to 26 million people, where health personnel discovered a sizable cluster in an enormous Seoul prison with an increase of than 500 inmates and employees. Transmissions in recent weeks are also tied to hospitals, nursing homes, churches, eating places and army units.
"The virus is spreading whenever and wherever it wishes," Wellbeing Minister Kwon Deok-cheol told an intra-agency assembly, adding that persons were also appearing infected at tiny gatherings with close friends and acquaintances.
"As we stand at the crossroads of the 3rd wave, how we stop the spread hinges about how we spend this year-end and New 12 months period."
After months of complacency, government officials restored lots of distancing restrictions in recent weeks after easing them to the lowest tier in October and so are nowadays clamping down on private gatherings, shutting down ski resorts, restricting hotel occupancy and setting fines for eating places if indeed they accept large groups.
The federal government will hold a gathering on Sunday to decide whether to raise distancing controls to the best “Tier-3,” which could possibly shutter hundreds of thousands of non-essential businesses. Officials possess resisted such actions for weeks, saying it could unleash additional shock on an already weak economy.
The current major cluster reaches a prison in eastern Seoul, where 514 inmates and personnel have already been infected, prompting health authorities to check all persons there. The virus likely spread conveniently as the prison contains five, high-rise properties and is suffering from over-capacity, a health recognized said.
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