South Korea reports jump in coronavirus cases, China’s cases rise on infections from abroad
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China reported an uptick in new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections, reversing four straight days of fewer new cases, driven by infected individuals arriving from abroad.
Mainland China had 24 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday, up from 19 new cases a day earlier.
Of the new infections, 10 were imported cases, bringing the overall cases from abroad to 79.
The Chinese capital of Beijing on Tuesday saw six new cases involving individuals who traveled from Italy and the United States, while Shanghai had two imported infections, Shandong province one and Gansu province one.
Meanwhile, South Korea reported a jump in new coronavirus cases on Wednesday as authorities tested hundreds of staff at a call center where the disease appeared this week, reversing 11 days of slowing infections, health officials said.
Another 242 new cases were reported compared with only 35 a day earlier, bringing the total in Asia’s worst outbreak outside mainland China to 7,755, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. The death toll rose by one to 60.
The daily tally of new cases in South Korea peaked at 909 on Feb. 29, as authorities tested about 200,000 followers of a fringe Christian church at the center of the nation’s epidemic.
With that task almost done, the infection rate had slowed in recent days, raising hopes that South Korea might be bringing the virus under control.
But new clusters at the call center in Seoul, and among teachers and students of a dance school with classes around the country, have kept authorities on high alert for a fresh spike in infections.
Taiwan too has begun reporting an uptick in imported cases. The government said on Wednesday the island’s 48th case was a woman in her 30s who had returned from holiday in Britain and had most likely been infected there.
As China’s efforts to control the spread of the pathogen at home start to payoff, Beijing is turning its focus on overseas cases as the coronavirus expands its footprint across the globe.
New infections in central Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, continued to stabilize, with new cases declining for the sixth day.
