Jump in virus cases

South Korea battle rising, while globe grapples with disease

SOUTH Korea has reported a jump in new coronavirus cases as authorities tested hundreds of staff at a call centre where the disease appeared this week, reversing 11 days of slowing infections.

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 7755, the Korea Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention said. The death toll rose by one to 60.

The daily tally of new cases in South Korea peaked at 909 on February 29, as authorities tested 200,000 followers of a fringe Christian church at the centre 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 centre 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.

Fifty-two of the latest infections were in Seoul but authorities did not say how many of those were linked directly to the call centre operated by an insurance company. More than 140 new infections were in the worst-hit city of Daegu, where the church is based, and the nearby province of North Gyeongsang.

“There has been a stagnating trend in Daegu cases despite a slight increase today,” public health policy director general Yoon Tae-ho said.

Meanwhile, the first plane carrying passengers from a cruise ship hit by the new virus has arrived in Texas to take them to a quarantine facility.

The ship docked on Monday in Oakland with about 3500 passengers and crew, including at least 21 who tested positive for the virus.

Also in the US, the Coachella music festival in Southern California has been postponed from April to October, amid virus concerns.