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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea prohibits giant gatherings, avoids nightclubs and churches and professional sports enthusiasts under unprecedented restrictions announced on Saturday in its fight against the spread of coronavirus.
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo announced the measures shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 332 new cases on the ninth consecutive day of three-digit increases. The national workload is now 17,002, adding 309 deaths.
While most new cases came here from the densely populated metropolitan domain of Seoul, which has been at the center of the viral outbreak in recent weeks, infections have also been reported in all major cities and towns, raising fears that transmissions will be out of reach. Control. Array
The government already imposed measures of senior social estrangement in Seoul this week after resisting them for months due to economic concerns.
“We are now in a very damaging scenario that can cause a large spread of COVID-19 across the country,” Park said.
Churches had been a major source of new instances in Seoul’s domain before the government closed them this week. Nightclubs, karaoke bars, buffet restaurants and computer game cafes in the great capital region have also closed and spectators are banned from returning to baseball and football games, just weeks after they were allowed to sell part of their seats.
The same measures will be implemented nationwide starting Sunday, Park said local governments could exercise somewhere of flexibility, such as advising the closure of business rather than enforcing them, if infections are low.
KCDC Director Jeong Eun-kyeong approved even stricter restrictions. While there is no sign that the spread of the virus is slowing after the weekend, he said the country deserves to raise social estrangement measures to “Level 3,” adding that meetings of more than 10 people, final schools, and the closure of professional sports are prohibited. advice to personal companies. make paintings of painters from home.
Yoon Taeho, a senior fitness ministry official, said the government will look at the effect of the restrictions before deciding to add them.
On Friday afternoon, more than 700 infections were connected to a Seoul church through a vocal critic of the country’s president. Sarang Jeil Church Pastor Jun Kwang-hun was hospitalized Monday by COVID-19 after taking part in an anti-government demonstration last week where he shared a microphone at the same level as other activists.
Police raided the church Friday night as they searched for a more complete list of its members who remain out of touch. Health personnel used cell phone location knowledge to identify another 15,000 people who spent more than 30 minutes on the streets during last Saturday’s demonstration and alerted them for examination.
In progress in the Asia-Pacific region:
– India has noticed an additional 24-hour increase in coronavirus infections as the disease spreads to the southern states of the country after achieving a past dueau in the capital and monetary center of Mumbai. The Ministry of Health reported 69,878 new instances on Saturday, bringing the total to 2,975,701. Globally, India recorded the largest daily accumulation in cases for 18 consecutive days. Some 2.2 million more people have recovered from the disease in India since the first case diagnosed at the end of January. India has the third largest number of cases after the United States and Brazil, with 55,794 deaths, giving it the fourth highest number of deaths in the world. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization, said Friday that the purpose of ending the pandemic within two years of its first appearance in Wuhan, China, expired last year.
– New coVID-19 instances in the Australian state of Victoria continued to decline on Saturday with 182 new infections and thirteen deaths. This is the moment when the number of new infections fell below 200. Only 24 of the most recent instances lack known sources, a contrast to the beginning of August, when loads cannot be traced either. Melbourne, Australia’s largest city at the time, and parts of rural Victoria were blocked in early August. It is scheduled to continue until 3 September. “While tomorrow’s numbers will be for tomorrow, we’re all happy to see a ‘one’ in front of those additional case numbers and, to some extent, it’s possible that it’s a little faster at this point than I thought,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. Meanwhile, the outbreak of a youth detention centre in the state of Queensland has led the state’s prime minister to reinstate restrictions on public gatherings. The group connected to brisbane’s youth detention centre is now seven, six of which were shown on Saturday. The 127 inmates, some as young as thirteen, have been locked in their rooms since a 77-year-old manager tested positive on Wednesday. The worker, who is now in the hospital, worked five shifts at the center when he became infected. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Saturday at a press convention that the cases are scary because “people have moved into the community.”
– China reported on Saturday 22 additional cases brought through travelers from abroad, without further local contagion. The National Health Commission said 454 other people were still being treated and 3667 were isolated. While the local spread of the virus appears to have been contained in mainland China, the semi-autonomous city of southern Hong Kong continues to fight its worst epidemic since the onset of the pandemic. The head of the territory, Carrie Lam, said Friday that Hong Kong would offer loose coronavirus tests to its citizens for a two-week era from September 1, hoping to re-start the service-dependent local economy. The city’s economy contracted by 9% in the last quarter of this year. A new wave of infections more than tripled the number of cases in the city to 4,632, with 75 deaths.
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