▲ Health officials inspect a private education institute in western Seoul on April 15, 2021, to check whether it abided by antivirus rules against COVID-19. (Yonhap)
▲ Lotte Department Store in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, demonstrates a small wedding at its rooftop park as the social distancing guidelines limits the number of wedding attendees. (Yonhap)

coronavirus-additional cases

New virus cases in 600s for 2nd day, virus battle at inflection point

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 600s for the second straight day Friday as the country's virus fight is at a critical juncture of bracing for another wave of the pandemic.

The country reported 673 more COVID-19 cases, including 652 local infections, raising the total caseload to 112,789, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Friday's daily caseload was down from 698 on Thursday and 731 on Wednesday, which marked the highest since Jan. 7.

The country added two more deaths, raising the total to 1,790.

Health authorities cautioned against a hike in group infections in various settings, including sports facilities, churches, karaoke businesses, restaurants, workplaces and schools, as people have increased their activities in the spring.

Concerns have been rising over a further spike in new cases as the proportion of untraceable viruses stood at 28.2 percent over the past week, complicating efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

Officials warned of tougher rules on multiuse facilities and business operations if the current trend continues.

Last week, the country decided to maintain the current level of social distancing rules through May 2 to contain the virus, while banning operations of entertainment establishments in the greater Seoul area and the southeastern port city of Busan.

The greater Seoul area, home to half of the nation's 52 million population, is under the Level 2 distancing scheme, the third highest in the five-phase system. The rest of the country is under Level 1.5, except for some municipalities that have adopted Level 2 measures.

Restaurants in the capital area are allowed to have dine-in customers until 10 p.m. under the current guidelines, but officials said they could shorten their business hours if daily cases rise further.

To detect patients at an early stage, health officials said they will expand preemptive testing to detect patients and explore ways to effectively use self-testing kits to further step up the testing capacity.

Of the newly confirmed locally transmitted cases, 215 came from Seoul, with Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital city accounting for 216.

The southeastern port city of Busan reported 44 new cases.

There were 21 additional imported cases.

The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients was 111, up 12 from the previous day.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries was 103,602, up 549 from a day earlier.

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