South Korea Faces Third-Wave Of Covid Outbreak As Cases Surge To 583
New coronavirus cases in South Korea soar to 583 this Thursday, November 26. This is the country's highest daily caseload in eight months.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), today's fresh coronavirus cases, which include 553 local infections and 19 imported cases, bump the total case tally to 32, 318. Not only that, but the country has also recorded two (2) additional deaths, raising the total casualty to 515.
Officials traced a new cluster of infections to a dance studio in Western Seoul, with a total of 66 infected individuals. Meanwhile, another 115 cases were reported from a district office in northern Seoul.
South Korean health authorities declare the beginning of the country's third-wave of Covid-19 outbreak since the first 518-daily caseload peak on March 6 and the second peak on August 27 with 441 recorded cases.
Today's caseload continues the triple-digit trend for daily recorded cases since November 8. It also shows a 153% increase from yesterday's 382 new cases recorded.
"Korea is battling the full-blown third wave of infections. We may see 400 to 600 new daily COVID-19 cases until early December, according to a result of mathematical prediction analysis," said Lee Sang-won, a senior official at the KDCA.
Moreover, based on KDCA's analysis, the majority of newly reported coronavirus infections over the past 2 weeks were from the Greater Seoul Area.
Since the resurgence of new coronavirus cases in the country, health officials have tightened social distancing measures especially with the scheduled national college exam on Thursday, December 3.
Since Tuesday, health authorities have raised the social distancing level in the Seoul metropolitan area to Level 2, which is the country's third-highest in the five-tier system. Fines for not wearing face masks have also been implemented to help curb the outbreak.
Meanwhile, a total of 55, 361 individuals are still waiting for their test results.
