Many countries that have been successful in tackling the coronavirus are seeing an increase in cases due to religious or leisure gatherings or in closed quarters like nightclubs and dormitories since relaxing curbs, WHO officials said on Monday.
South Korea said for the first time on Monday it was in the midst of a โsecond waveโ of infections around Seoul, driven by small but persistent outbreaks stemming from a holiday in May.
โThere are many countries right now that have had success in suppressing transmission and bringing human-to-human transmission to a low level that are starting to see increasing cases,โ WHO epidemiologist and technical lead on the pandemic Maria Van Kerkhove said, naming South Korea as one of them.
She stopped short of describing it as a โsecond waveโ.
โAny opportunity that the virus has to take hold, it will,โ she said, urging countries to โput everything they canโ into isolating such cases to prevent renewed community transmission.
The WHOโs top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, said that there seemed to be new clusters in South Korea linked to clubs, shelters and amusement parks but said that overall case numbers were โvery, very stable or actually droppingโ and praised Seoulโs approach.
โMy understanding is that the vast majority of cases being detected are linked to existing and recognised clusters and as such the South Korean authorities still have great visibility over where the virus is and the dynamics within which the chains are transmitting,โ he said.
