Coronavirus: South Korea reports 146 new cases; tally goes up to 9,332

South Korea has reported 146 new cases of the coronavirus and five more deaths, bringing its totals to 9,478 cases and 144 deaths. South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 4,811 people have been released from hospitals as of Saturday, marking the first time the number of recoveries exceeded the number of people remaining under treatment since the country confirmed its first COVID-19 case on Jan. 21.

The KCDC says 71 of the new cases came from the worst-hit city of Daegu, which has struggled to stem transmissions in hospitals, nursery homes, and other live-in institutions. Infections in the populous Seoul metropolitan area have reached 874 following a steady rise over the past two weeks that was mainly linked to passengers arriving from Europe and the United States.

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South Korea is tightening border controls and began enforcing two-week quarantines on South Korean nationals and foreigners with long-term stay visas arriving from the United States on Friday. Similar quarantines had already been in place for passengers coming from Europe. South Korean Prime Minister Chung Se-Kyun on Saturday called for Seoul and other local governments to strengthen their monitoring on South Koreans who returned from overseas after some of them triggered public anger by breaking quarantine and traveling to other regions before testing positive.

Oldest woman recovers 

A 93-year-old South Korean woman reportedly infected with the novel coronavirus has fully recovered and has been released from quarantine, city officials reportedly confirmed. The patient was a resident at a nursing hospital in the southeastern city of Gyeongsan and was discharged from the Seoul hospital. 

A city official, on account of anonymity, told the state media that the patient was the oldest person among recovered of the COVID-19 cases. She previously had symptoms of dementia but did not have any other underlying disease, he added. At least 3,166 people have fully recovered so far, incrementing the figures by 257 from a day earlier, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The rate of full recovery has steadily increased over the past 10 days to reach a record high of 35.8 per cent, as per the media reports. 

(With AP inputs)

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