Coronavirus: South Korea records 13th death; number of cases crosses 1,700

Of 505 new cases of infection, 422 are from the southeastern city of Daegu

Meanwhile, joint US military drills will be axed until further notice amid the growing outbreak in South Korea, which is now the most-infected behind China

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Workers spray disinfectant at a public bus car park in Seoul on February 26, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:15am, 27 Feb 2020Updated: 9:48pm, 28 Feb 2020

South Korea on Thursday announced the death of its 13th coronavirus patient, a man who was a member of the secretive Shincheonji Church of Jesus, as the number of cases rose to 1,766.

The 74-year-old man had symptoms such as fever and cough on February 20 and reported experiencing shortness of breath a few days later. He died of cardiac arrest in hospital on Thursday morning, the Chosun newspaper reported.

The man’s death came as the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 505 new cases of infection, the country’s biggest one-day jump since its first case was confirmed on January 20, making it the most-infected country behind China.

Washington and Seoul also decided to suspend joint military drills until further notice, the Combined Forces Command said. The decision came a day after a US serviceman went into self-quarantine after testing positive for the Covid-19 disease.

The 23-year-old was based at Camp Carroll, located near the southeastern city of Daegu. There are 28,500 American military personnel in South Korea to protect it against the nuclear-armed North, many of them based south of Seoul at Camp Humphreys, which is America’s largest overseas military facility.

Meanwhile, two air force officers and two army civilian workers also tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of cases linked to South Korea’s 600,000-strong military to 25. Of the total cases in the armed forces, 15 are in the army, eight in the air force and one each in the navy and marine corps.

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