코로나 확진 110명…부산 요양병원 집단감염 및 지인, 가족 모임 영향
Shifting our focus now to the coronavirus tally.
Daily case numbers in South Korea rebounded to triple digits today at 1-hundred-and-ten.
The uptick is attributed largely to a cluster infection linked to a nursing hospital in Busan.
Health officials here plan to ramp up the number of tests at nursing homes to prevent these high-risk venues from emergeing as new Covid hotspots.
Lee Kyung-eun with the details.
South Korea reported 1-hundred-10 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday.
In the past two weeks, the daily numbers have been hovering around the one hundred mark.
And Thursday's tally puts the figure into triple digits for the third time this month.
The recent spike comes from a series of cluster infections, including a major one in the country's second largest city of Busan.
At a nursing home in the city, 53 patients have been confirmed with the virus,...two of whom have died.
Health authorities have quickly responded, making special inspections of the city's nursing homes,... while conducting emergency testing on some of those facilities near the center of the cluster infection.
And as a preemptive measure for the high-risk capital region, the government is set to test some 160-thousand people linked to nursing homes and related facilities.
"We are planning to expand those preemptive tests to other high-risk facilities too, in cooperation with local governments."
In the meantime, the country is grappling with the lingering effects of last month's thanksgiving holiday.
A total of 16 clusters with some 3-hundred patients have been reported,... but there's a clear trend.
"The outbreaks are at a controllable level, but it's mostly spreading through small gatherings of friends and family members. 8 cases of the 16 were such cases,... through events like dining or drinking together."
And that pattern has continued into some of the most recent outbreaks.
Including one that began at a gathering of friends in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province,... and later spread to Seoul and Yangyang County.
A total of 16 people caught the virus from this cross-city cluster.
And from another such group infection from a pub in Incheon, 13 people tested positive.
The government warns the number of cases could grow... due to the recent relaxation of restrictions.
Lee Kyung-eun, Arirang News.
