South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday the government was waging “all-out responses” to contain the novel coronavirus with churches closed in an effort to rein in public gatherings as the country reported 586 new cases, taking the total to 3,736. South Korea has the largest national total in the world outside China, after it saw a rapid surge in the number of coronavirus cases in recent days. Scores of events have been cancelled or postponed over the virus, while more than 70 countries raised their travel restrictions against South Korea. “The government is now waging all-out responses after raising the crisis alert to the highest level,” Moon said at a ceremony marking Independence Movement Day, scaled down due to the outbreak. “We will be able to overcome the Covid-19 outbreak and revive our shrunken economy,” he added. Nearly 90 per cent of the cases were in Daegu, the centre of the country’s outbreak, and its neighbouring North Gyeongsang province, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. The death toll rose to 20, up from 17 the day before. The national total is expected to rise further as authorities screen more than 260,000 members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive entity often accused of being a cult that is linked to around half of the country’s cases. Hong Kong group’s links to Shincheonji sect at centre of South Korea outbreak A 61-year-old female member developed a fever on February 10, but attended at least four church services in Daegu – the country’s fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million – before being diagnosed. The streets of Daegu have been largely deserted for days, apart from long queues at the few shops with masks for sale. Authorities have urged the public to exercise caution and anyone with a fever or respiratory symptoms to stay home. But officials say they are not considering a citywide quarantine for the city in the manner of the lockdown imposed on the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged. Coronavirus patient dies at home as 600 wait for hospital beds in Daegu A surge in confirmed cases has led many events to be cancelled or postponed as the outbreak has hit the world’s 12th-largest economy, including concerts by K-pop superstars BTS and the World Team Table Tennis Championships. Auto giant Hyundai Motor also suspended operations at one of its Ulsan plants after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus. The new school term start has been delayed one week nationwide and three weeks in Daegu, while the US and South Korean militaries have postponed forthcoming joint exercises. Amid the gloom, Seoul’s ubiquitous online gaming rooms have actually been busy as customers, mostly young students, indulge in playing computer games. In contrast to mostly empty shopping areas and restaurants in the capital Seoul, public parks and the long promenade tracks along both sides of the Han River banks have been more crowded than usual, where citizens wearing face masks have ventured out. They were apparently encouraged by widely reported experts’ opinions that there was a reduced chance of the virus transmitting between people wearing masks, especially in open spaces. “I was getting bored to death after getting myself confined to my apartment for several days,” Park Shin-ae, a 32-year-old woman, told South China Morning Post , as he took to the street at Seoul’s Ichondong district to “breathe in some fresh air”. Merchants are complaining about slow business on top of their own concerns about catching the virus from customers who show no symptoms. “Today, we had only two customers,” said an operator of an otherwise busy cosmetics shop in a subway station near Incheon City, next to Seoul. A manager of a restaurant near the City Hall in Seoul said business had dropped by “half”. “We’ve cut out dinner services and we now only serve during the lunch hours,” she said. “Many people called off their bookings, citing the virus endemic.” South Korea, which is renowned for its efficient medical services, is being stretched to the limit in the face of the epidemic. “We’re conducting thousands of tests for the virus every day. Whoever walks up to us for tests, we are obliged,” one government doctor told the Post on the condition of anonymity. “The disease like other flus just passes over for most patients after giving them light symptoms. He suggested that “excessive testing” and reported results had given an impression that South Korea was the second largest infected country after China. “Japan limits tests to the most obvious and serious cases.” South Korea meanwhile has urged the United States to “refrain from taking excessive measures” after the State Department raised its travel advisory on the Korean city of Daegu, where most of the nation’s novel coronavirus cases are centred. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha spoke to US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun by phone, according to a statement from the South Korean foreign ministry. She said that while the virus was spreading in the country, it is concentrated in a specific region and the government is making an all-out effort to prevent further infections, the ministry said. The call took place just hours after the State Department raised its travel advisory on South Korea’s Daegu to Level 4, its most severe grade. The department urged citizens to not travel to the city, citing risks of community transmission and local quarantine procedures. On February 24, it issued a Level 3 advisory for South Korea, advising citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the country. With Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg