Coronavirus: South Korea declares hard-hit areas ‘disaster zones’
- South Korea has the highest number of cases in Asia after China
- Latest numbers confirm a trend of decreasing new infections, but concerns remain
South Korea on Sunday reported 76 new coronavirus cases and three more deaths, a fall in new cases to double-digits for the first time in over three weeks, as President Moon Jae-in declared the hardest hit provinces “special disaster zones”.
It is the first time South Korea has declared a region a disaster zone from an infectious disease and under the status the government can subsidise up to 50 per cent of restoration expenses and exempt residents from taxes and utility payments.
South Korea, which has the highest number of cases in Asia after China, now has a total to 8,162 confirmed infections and 75 deaths, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said (KCDC).
South Korea has been experiencing a downward trend in new cases and the latest numbers are significantly lower than the peak of 909 cases reported on February 29 and down from the 107 recorded on Saturday.
Citing extended economic fallout from the coronavirus, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Sunday: “We will brace for all possibilities. We will minimise the impact on the economy of the people.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in declared Daegu and North Gyeongsang province as “special disaster zones”, the presidential Blue House spokesman Kang Min-seok said.
Forty-one of the new coronavirus cases were from the city of Daegu, where a secretive church at the centre of the outbreak is located. The church has linked to over 61 per cent of cases, KCDC Deputy Director Kwon Jun-wook told a briefing on Sunday.
