Virus spreads in South Korea
THE STREETS of South Korea’s fourth-largest city were abandoned yesterday, with residents holed up indoors after dozens of people caught the coronavirus in what the authorities described as a “super-spreading event” at a church.
The deserted shopping malls and cinemas of Daegu, a city of 2.5 million people, became one of the most striking images outside China of an outbreak that international authorities are trying to prevent from spreading into a global pandemic.
New research suggesting the virus was more contagious than previously thought added to the alarm. And in China, where the virus has killed more than 2 100 people, officials changed their methodology for reporting infections, creating new doubt about data they have been citing as evidence of success in fighting its spread.
Deagu mayor Kwon Young-jin told residents to stay indoors after 90 people who worshipped at the Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony showed symptoms of infection and dozens of new cases were confirmed.
The church had been attended by a 61-year-old woman who tested positive, known as “Patient 31”. Korea’s
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention described the outbreak there as a “super-spreading event”. “We are in an unprecedented crisis,” Kwon told reporters, adding that all members of the church would be tested. “We’ve asked them to stay at home.”
South Korea has 104 confirmed cases and reported its first death.
In China, officials have been pointing to evidence that new cases were declining. But revisions to their methodology have raised doubts about the data. Under the latest methodology, which excludes chest X-rays, China reported fewer than 400 new cases over the past day, less than a quarter of the number it had been finding in recent days under the previous method.
Only last week, another change in Chinese methodology created an overnight spike of nearly 15 000 new cases, reversing a trend of falling numbers that Chinese officials had previously touted as evidence their disease-fighting strategy was working.
Scientists in China who studied nose and throat swabs from 18 patients infected with the virus said it behaved much more like influenza than other closely related viruses, suggesting it may spread more easily than thought.
In at least one case, the virus was present even though the patient had no symptoms, suggesting symptom-free patients could spread the disease. China has imposed severe controls in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, to halt the spread of the virus.
Yesterday, Japan reported the deaths of two elderly passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored off Yokohama.