Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
South Korea report daily number of cases Covid-19 the highest since January with 826 new corona infections on Thursday (1/7) due to the emergence of new clusters and varian Delta.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported that nearly 81 percent or 756 of the new cases were locally transmitted, originating in Seoul and surrounding areas.
“More than 80 percent of the new cases came from the metropolitan area, Seoul, for three consecutive days due to clusters of restaurants and private educational institutions,” South Korea’s Minister of Home Affairs and Security, Jeon Hae-cheol, was quoted as saying. Reuters, Friday (2/7).
“We are very concerned that the virus will spread further as there are clear signs of increased activity for people outside and an increase in the number of cases of the highly contagious Delta variant.”
The government is also very concerned about new clusters detected at English academies outside the capital, with at least 242 cases including the Delta variant.
“We are worried that the outbreak could explode if social distancing rules are relaxed as there will be more person-to-person contact through drinking or exposure in public facilities,” said KDCA director Jeong Eun on Thursday (1/7).
Previously, the South Korean government had planned to relax the restrictions starting in July, because the daily Covid cases were only around 500. In addition, they had also accelerated vaccination.
However, a few days before the official restrictions were relaxed, the daily number of Covid cases continued to rise. To contain the rate of transmission, authorities in Seoul and surrounding areas extended the restrictions for a week until July 7.
Authorities urged residents to keep wearing masks indoors and asked residents to refrain from coming to unnecessary events.
Until now, the total number of Covid-19 cases in South Korea has reached 158,000 cases, with a death toll of 2,021.
(isa/has)
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