Korea confirmed one more case of new coronavirus over the weekend, raising the total to 30.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a 68-year-old woman, the wife of the 29th patient, responded positively to the test conducted while she was in a self-quarantine at home.

She was transported to Seoul National University Hospital for treatment.

The health authorities are carrying out an epidemiological investigation on the couple’s causes and routes of infection. Further research is necessary for KCDC to decide whether a community-acquired infection with unknown paths has begun.

KCDC said it is going all out to prevent the transmission of the new coronavirus, but people need to be more cautious. Community-acquired infections without cause or infection routes have occurred in some neighboring countries, including Japan.

"We discussed ways to strengthen prevention among relevant agencies and local governments, and establish a regular surveillance system to detect infected people earlier," the KCDC said.

The health authorities said they are also revising the case definition to expand the criteria for hospitals to perform diagnostic tests regardless of patients' overseas travel history, adding that the job in the final stages to collect more opinions.

KCDC and the Ministry of Interior and Safety will do their best to stem the virus’ spread within the community by strengthening self-quarantine control, expanding the designation of contact quarantine facilities at each province and city, and checking the operation of screening clinics.

So far, 30 patients have been confirmed of the new coronavirus, and 10 were discharged from quarantine after full recovery.

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