Coronavirus: South Korea wages ‘all-out responses’ to biggest outbreak outside China
- Most new cases recorded in the city of Daegu, which has been linked to Shincheonji church
- Outbreak is the largest outside China, where the novel coronavirus began spreading in December 2019
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.