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HEALTH-VIRUS-SKOREA
Nearly 500 new coronavirus cases send South Korea total past 4,000
SEOUL, March 2, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – South Korea reported nearly 500 new
coronavirus cases Monday, sending the largest national total in the world
outside China past 4,000.
Four more people had died, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said, taking the toll to 22.
Infection numbers have surged in the world’s 12th-largest economy in
recent days and the country’s central bank has warned of negative growth in
the first quarter, noting the epidemic will hit both consumption and exports,
while scores of events have been cancelled or postponed over the contagion.
The figures are expected to rise further as authorities carry out checks
on more than 260,000 people associated with the Shincheonji Church of Jesus,
a religious group often condemned as a cult that is linked to more than half
the cases.
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 and the centre of the outbreak — before
being diagnosed.
Of the 476 new cases announced Monday — taking the total to 4,212 — more
than 90 percent were in Daegu and the neighbouring province of North
Gyeongsang, the KCDC said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0817 hrs