South Korea’s President Moon warns of toughest Covid-19 curbs after two days of record cases

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in warned on Sunday that Covid-19 restrictions could also be raised to the very best stage after a second day of file will increase in instances because the nation battles a harsh third wave of an infection.

Presiding over an emergency assembly on the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for the primary time since February, Moon urged vigilance and known as for an all-out efforts to comprise the virus.

“Unless the outbreak can be contained now, it has come to the critical point of considering escalating social-distancing measures to the third level,” he mentioned, referring to the tightest curbs beneath the nation’s five-tier system.

Greater Seoul, dwelling to about half of South Korea’s 52 million individuals, is beneath stage 2.5 restrictions. Gatherings of greater than 50 persons are banned and eating places are prohibited from serving clients after 9 p.m.

A rustic that had preliminary success controlling Covid-19, South Korea reported 1,030 new coronavirus infections on Sunday after 950 the day past, bringing whole infections to 42,766 with 580 deaths.

Of the brand new instances, 1,002 had been domestically transmitted, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency mentioned.

“Our back is against the wall,” Moon mentioned. “This is a crucial moment to devote all our virus control capabilities and administrative power to stopping the coronavirus spread.”

Level three curbs would basically imply a lockdown for the primary time in Asia’s fourth-largest economic system. Schools would swap to distant studying, firms may enable solely important staff in workplaces and gatherings of greater than 10 individuals can be banned.

The authorities will add about 10,000 hospital beds inside the subsequent few weeks and briefly pay some nurses concerned within the care of Covid-19 sufferers an additional three million gained ($2,748) a month to assist overstressed hospitals throughout the nation.

“Assuming about 1,000 of new daily infections for the next 20 days, we will secure over 10,000 beds in the next three weeks,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo mentioned in a televised briefing after the emergency assembly.

South Korea was praised for its early success in containing the coronavirus with no lockdown by relying closely on contact-tracing and testing after the nation’s first case was confirmed in January.

On Saturday, Moon ordered the mobilisation of police, navy personnel and public medical medical doctors to dam the unfold, which he known as an “emergency.”