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| Seoul on Monday ordered masks to be worn in both indoor and outdoor public places for the first time REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji |
South Korea on Tuesday ordered most schools in Seoul and surrounding areas to close and move classes back online, the latest in a series of precautionary measures aimed at heading off a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 280 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Monday, bringing the countryโs total to 17,945 with 310 deaths.
That represents a drop in daily new infections from 397 reported as of midnight Saturday, the highest daily tally since early March.
With most of the new cases centred in the densely populated capital area, however, health authorities say the country is on the brink of a nation-wide outbreak and have called on people to stay home and limit travel.
โIt would be too hasty to say that the curve has flattened,โ KCDC deputy director Kwon Jun-wook told a briefing. โThere is still a high risk that cases could continue to rise.โ
The past week has seen three times as many serious cases compared to past spikes, he said, raising concerns that the death toll could rise.
All students, except for high school seniors, in the cities of Seoul and Incheon and the province of Geonggi will take classes online until Sept. 11, the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday.
The beginning of the spring semester had been postponed several times since March, but as daily coronavirus cases dropped sharply since a February peak, most of South Koreaโs schools reopened in stages between May 20 and June 1.
Over the past two weeks, at least 150 students and 43 school staff have tested positive in the greater Seoul area, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae told a briefing.
Seoul on Monday ordered masks to be worn in both indoor and outdoor public places for the first time, and has ordered places like churches, nightclubs, karaoke bars and other high-risk venues closed.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo on Tuesday pleaded with thousands of doctors who have been staging walkouts to return to work.
โWe sincerely ask the medical staff to promptly return to the medical ground, where the patients are awaiting,โ he said at a meeting.
The doctors are protesting several government proposals, including a plan to increase the number of medical students by 4,000 over the next 10 years.
The government says the plan is necessary to be better prepared for public health crises like the coronavirus pandemic, but doctorsโ associations have said it would unnecessarily flood the market and do little to fix more systemic problems.
Meanwhile Hong Kong will ease some coronavirus measures from Aug. 28, allowing venues like cinemas and beauty parlours to reopen and restaurants to extend dining hours, authorities said on Tuesday, while cautioning against complacency.
Hong Kong had seen a resurgence of locally transmitted cases since the start of July but the daily number has fallen from triple digits in recent weeks to low double digits. Mondayโs infection count of nine new cases was the lowest in nearly two months.
Health Secretary Sophia Chan said that the government would allow outdoor sports centres to reopen and would lift mandatory mask wearing for outdoor sports and country parks. Restaurants would extend dining to 9 p.m. (1300 GMT), having previously only been able to offer takeaways past 6 p.m.
The government had imposed strict regulations at the start of July including the mandatory wearing of masks in all public outdoor places and a ban on gatherings of more than two people.
The cap on the number of people that can meet would remain in place past Friday, and Chan gave no indication on when this would change.
The relaxation of measures comes ahead of mass testing of residents in the Asian financial hub which is set to begin on Sept. 1.
Since late January, around 4,700 people have been infected in Hong Kong, 77 of whom have died.
A Hong Kong man who recovered from COVID-19 was infected again four-and-a-half months later in what is the first documented instance of human re-infection, researchers at the University of Hong Kong said on Monday.
REUTERS
