SEOUL, South Korea SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported 166 newly confirmed case of the coronavirus, its highest daily jump in five months, as health authorities fear transmissions are getting out of control in the greater capital area thats home to half of the countrys 51 million people.
The figures announced by South Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Saturday brought the national caseload to 15,039, including 305 deaths.
The KCDC said 155 of the new infections were local, mostly from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area where authorities scurried to shut down thousands of churches, which have emerged as a major source of COVID-19 cases.
Many of them had failed to properly enforce preventive measures, allowing worshippers to take off their masks, sing in choirs or eat together in diners.
Other clusters have been tied to nursing homes, schools, restaurants, outdoor markets and door-to-door salespeople.
Government officials have expressed concern that transmissions could worsen due to demonstrations planned by anti-government protesters and labor unionists in Seoul on Saturday, the 75th anniversary of the countrys liberation from Japanese rule at the end of World War II.
The spike could result in stronger social distancing measures at major cities, which they have so far been reluctant to take because of economic concerns. They could include a ban on public gatherings, shutdowns of entertainment venues, and removing fans from baseball and other professional sports, which began to partially let in spectators only in late July.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
Indias confirmed coronavirus cases have crossed 2.5 million with another biggest single-day spike of 65,002 in the past 24 hours. India is behind the United States and Brazil in the number of cases. The Health Ministry on Saturday also reported another 996 deaths for a total of 49,036. The average daily reported cases jumped from around 15,000 in the first week of July to more than 50,000 at the beginning of August. The Health Ministry said the rise shows the extent of testing with 800,000 carried out in a single day. But experts say India needs to pursue testing more vigorously. Indias two-month lockdown imposed nationwide in late March kept infections low. But it has eased and is now largely being enforced in high-risk areas. The new cases spiked after India reopened shops and manufacturing and allowed hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to return to their homes from coronavirus-hit regions. Subways, schools and movie theaters remain closed.
The Australian state of Victoria continues to flatten the curve in its wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the hard-hit area. It reported four more deaths and 303 new cases in the past 24 hours. Its the second-lowest daily figure in Victoria this month after 278 cases on Thursday. Victorias daily numbers are gradually decreasing, with the seven-day average down to 344 from 521 a week ago. But authorities warn there is more progress needed before lockdown restrictions in the city of Melbourne can be eased. Melbourne residents and those in a nearby shire remain subject to strict nighttime curfews, time limits on outdoor exercise, distance allowed from home, mandatory public mask wearing and shutdowns of non-essential industries. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says, “We could not conceive of opening up with 200 cases a day. We couldnt do it with 100 cases a day. We have to head for the lowest possible number. The four deaths announced Saturday take the states toll to 293 and the Australian COVID-19 death total to 379.
Chinas government reported 22 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday. Eight were acquired locally, including seven in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, the National Health Commission reported. The rest were found in travelers who arrived from abroad. The raised the number of confirmed cases on Chinas mainland, where the pandemic began in December, to 84,808, with 4,634 deaths.
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