Korea leader calls for 'unprecedented' steps to stop virus

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president has put the country on its highest alert for infectious diseases and says officials should take “unprecedented, powerful” steps to fight a viral outbreak.

President Moon Jae-in says the outbreak has reached “a crucial watershed” and that “the next few days will be a very important critical moment.”

He made the comments at the start of a government meeting as authorities reported 123 more cases on Sunday, raising the total to 556 with five deaths.

South Korea and China both reported a rise in new virus cases on Sunday and a diplomatic row erupted after Israel turned back a South Korean airliner, underscoring fear and tensions over the fast-spreading outbreak that South Korean prime minister said had entered a “more grave stage.”

Some virus clusters have shown no direct link to travel to China. The death toll in Iran climbed to six, the highest outside China, and a dozen towns in northern Italy effectively went into lockdown as authorities tested hundreds of people who came into contact with an estimated 79 confirmed cases there. Two people have died in Italy.

South Korea on Sunday reported its fifth death, the second in a day. It said the woman believed to be 57 years old was suffering from chronic kidney disease when she became infected with the virus.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 113 of the 123 new cases came from the fourth-largest city of Daegu and surrounding areas. Centers chief Jeong Eun-kyeong told reporters that 309, or 55.6 %, of the country's 556 patients have been confirmed to have links to a branch of the local Shincheonji church in Daegu, which has become the biggest cluster of viral infections.

She said 534 of the 556 patients have been placed under isolation and that tests were underway on 6,039 other people.

Daegu's first case on Feb. 18 was a church member with no recent record of overseas travel. Officials said she attended church services and visited other places before being diagnosed with the disease, but they still believe it’s unlikely that the woman set off the chain of infections.

Daegu Mayor Kwon Yong-jin said there are concerns that the number of those infected in the city could see yet another massive increase because authorities were launching intensive examinations of church members with virus-related symptoms.

Downtown Daegu was mostly deserted with shelves at some supermarkets and stores empty. Many restaurants, bars, real-estate offices and tour agencies have shut down as traffic nosedived and people stayed home, ordering food and supplies online.

Mainland China reported 648 new infections for a total of 76,936. The daily death toll fell slightly to 97. In all, 2,442 people have died in the country from COVID-19.

Associated Press