South Korea designates 2 cities as ‘special care zones’ as coronavirus cases spike to 156
SEOUL (REUTERS, AFP) – South Korean officials on Friday (Feb 21) designated two cities as “special care zones” while its military confined troops to their bases in a desperate effort to contain the spread of coronavirus after a recent spike in cases.
South Korea reported 52 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, taking the national total to 156, making it the worst-infected country outside China.
Thirty-nine of the new cases were linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu, the Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.
More than 80 members of Shincheonji have now been infected, starting with a 61-year-old woman who developed a fever on Feb 10 but attended at least four church services before being diagnosed, a scenario that health authorities described as a “super-spreading event”.
Of the national tally, 111 patients are from Daegu or nearby.
Malls, restaurants and streets in the city, the country’s fourth-largest with a population of 2.5 million, were largely empty as the mayor called the outbreak an “unprecedented crisis”.
As of Friday more than 400 members of the church are showing symptoms of the disease, though tests were still ongoing, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin said at a briefing.
