"Emergency phase" in South Korea

5:58 am: Given the rapid rise in infections with the new corona virus in South Korea, President Moon Jae In spoke of a "serious situation". He called on Prime Minister Chung Sye Kyun to take "quick and strong" countermeasures, Moon's office said on Friday. "A month after the outbreak, we are now in an emergency phase," said Prime Minister Chung Sye Kyun himself. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 52 new cases were added overnight. This brought the number of people infected with the causative agent of Covid-19, the lung disease that first broke out in China, to 156.

On Thursday, the authorities reported the first death in South Korea related to the Sars-CoV-2 virus. According to reports from South Korean broadcasters, it was a 63-year-old man who was treated for pneumonia in a hospital in southeast Cheongdo. The virus was found in his body after death.

The authorities are concerned about the spread of the virus across the country. The majority of new infections were again recorded in the southeastern city of Daegu. However, new cases have also been reported in other regions in recent days, including Seoul and the southern holiday island of Jeju. The capital Seoul banned rallies in the city center until further notice.

The government declared Daegu and Cheongdo to be special control areas. Medical personnel from the armed forces are to be deployed there. In Daegu, most cases have been linked to members of a Christian sect who are believed to have contracted an infected person while attending worship services