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| People wearing face masks walk through a market in Seoul, Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. AP |
The daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea fell back to below 500 for the first time in three days on Sunday due apparently to less testing over the weekend, with health authorities mulling further raising virus curbs in the greater Seoul area to rein in further spread.
The country added 450 more COVID-19 cases, including 413 local infections, raising the total caseload to 33,824, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It reported one additional coronavirus fatality, bringing the total to 523.
The latest figure is down from 581 on Thursday, 555 on Friday and 504 on Saturday, the KDCA said. However, fewer tests are usually carried out on weekends compared with weekdays.
The daily infection tally has stayed in the triple digits since Nov. 8, with the figure hovering above 300 since Nov. 18 except for Monday. Amid deepening worries over the third infection wave, the government is expected to decide how to readjust social distancing curbs later in the day.
The authorities have raised the social distancing level by one notch to Level 2, the third-highest in the country's five-tier system, in the Seoul metropolitan area, where the majority of virus cases have been identified, and began to apply enhanced measures from Tuesday.
Other municipalities have also been enforcing tougher distancing rules depending on their virus situations.
Health authorities plan to convene a session later in the day to discuss whether to raise the social distancing level to 2.5 for the Seoul metropolitan area and other provinces.
The move came as some medical experts warned that more stringent measures are necessary to contain the pandemic as the daily virus count could soar to 1,000.
By region, 146 new virus cases were reported in Seoul, 95 cases in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital and 22 cases in Incheon, west of Seoul. The greater Seoul area is home to around half of the nation's 51.6 million population.
Other municipalities reported new infections, with the southern port city of Busan adding 21 new cases.
The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 76 as of midnight, down from 78 the previous day.
The country added 37 imported cases coming mainly from the United States and Asian countries, excluding China, the KDCA said.
The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries stood at 27,542, up 193 from the previous day.
The country has carried out 3,046,971 coronavirus tests since Jan. 3, including 14,968 tests the previous day. (Yonhap)
