South Korea In Critical Struggle, COVID-19 High Possibility Of Nationwide Spread
SOUTH KOREA IN CRITICAL STRUGGLE – The South Korean government had said that they are now in a critical struggle to contain the spread of the new coronavirus in Daegu.
The epicenter of the disease in Korea started in Daegu and was linked to a religious group called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Most of South Korea’s 833 cases are linked there.
Following this, the government had given themselves four weeks to contain the viral outbreak. If they fail to do so, they fear that COVID-19 could spread nationwide.
Daegu is home to more than 2.5 million people. It is also about 150 miles southeast of Korea’s capital, Seoul.
According to an article from NPR, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea had doubled over the last few days. In addition, the virus had spread to every major city and province.
This resulted in the government raising Korea’s alert level for infectious diseases to “Red”, the highest level last raised in 2009. With an alert level Red, authorities are able to shut down classes and transportation.
Neighboring countries such as Japan had already imposed a ban on travelers coming from the Hubei Province in China. However, South Korea had not followed in that regard.
More than half a million people had already signed a petition to ban all visitors from China. But, Seoul stated they wouldn’t go through with the ban for economic and diplomatic reasons.
Now, health authorities are placing their focus on the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Shincheonji is Korean for “new heaven and earth”, but it’s critics believe the church to be a cult.
More than 9,000 members of the church have been placed under quarantine. Additionally, the government had planned to test all of them for the new coronavirus.
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