Korea’s new Covid-19 outbreaks climbed above 30 on Monday as cluster infections continued to occur at churches in the Seoul metro region while those from foreign sailors turned into community spreads in Busan.
The nation saw 34 new virus cases -- 23 local infections and 11 foreign arrivals -- raising the cumulative caseload to 14,660 as of midnight Monday.
Seventy-one more people recovered, pushing the number of cured patients to 13,729, with 626 receiving treatment, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The death toll remained at 305 as no one died of Covid-19 on that day. The nation has tested 1,637,844 suspected patients since Jan. 3.
Local infections have climbed recently as churches reemerged as epicenters of new outbreaks in Seoul and its vicinity. Of the 23 local outbreaks, 13 occurred in the greater Seoul area, including Gyeonggi Province, followed by nine in Busan and one in South Chungcheong Province.
The number of confirmed cases related to a church in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, continued to rise to an accumulated total of 32 cases. Notably, the cases tied to the church have further spread to the Namdaemun Market in downtown Seoul, the nation’s largest traditional market, and a child daycare center in Goyang, a bed town just north of Seoul.
Another in Goyang has also confirmed a total of 21 cases as of Monday. At the same time, a church in Gimpo, west of the capital, found eight cases.
On July 10, the government prohibited small gatherings by church members other than worship services amid the soaring number of virus patients. It lifted the ban two weeks later. As cases tied to religious facilities resurge, the public health authorities consider re-implementing similar restrictions, officials said.
“Small religious gatherings are difficult to control, so the government is deeply contemplating what can be an effective plan to stop church-linked spreads,” said Yoon Tae-ho, head of public health policies at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “However, the government is still considering whether to reinstate the previous ban or not.”
Yoon, who doubles as the chief quarantine coordinator at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, stressed that the government would observe the situation before imposing measures such as a ban on gatherings or small meetings.
“Infections tied to small groups have been occurring not only in churches but in cafes, so there is a need to put more focus on small meetings of various types,” he added.
Of the 11 imported infections, five cases came from the U.S., followed by three from Kazakhstan and one from Moldova, Algeria, and the Philippines. Three cases were detected at port and airport checkpoints.
More seafarers on a Russia-flagged ship docked in Busan were confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus. Four additional Indonesian sailors on the fishing vessel have tested positive for Covid-19.
Health authorities believe they might have contracted the virus through the ship captain, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus last week. So far, eight virus cases have been traced to the Russia-flagged ship. Since June, health authorities have detected more than 90 virus cases at Russian ships docked in Busan.