South Korean city of Daegu – which saw first large coronavirus outbreak outside China – records no new infections
- South Korean city of Daegu today reported zero new cases for the first time
- Half of all South Korean Covid-19 infectees were recorded in the southern city
- South Korea today reported 27 new cases, a new low since daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February
The South Korean city of Daegu, which endured the first large coronavirus outbreak outside of China, today reported zero new cases for the first time since late February, as new infections across the country dropped to record lows.
With at least 6,807 confirmed cases, Daegu accounts for more than half of all South Korea’s 10,450 infections.
South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases as of the night before, a new low since daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Medical staffers gesture as they enter a hospital for a shift, in Daegu, 30 March 2020
Pictured: South Korean health workers wave to colleagues who had been temporarily dispatched to Daegu, the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country on 2 April
South Korean soldiers in protective gear make their way while they disinfect buildings downtown, following the rise in confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Daegu, South Korea, March 15, 2020
The death toll also rose by four to 208, the KCDC said.
‘For the first time in around 50 days, the number of new confirmed cases had reduced to around 20 (nationwide),’ said the country’s Vice Minister of Heath Kim Ganglip.
Daegu’s first case has been referred to as patient 31, who was first brought to the government’s attention on 18 February.
‘In Daegu, for the first time since the patient 31, there was no new case,’ Ganglip told CNN.
Medical staff in protective gear work at a ‘drive-thru’ testing center for the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020
Soldiers from the South Korean Army’s 50th Division disinfect the Seomun Market, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Daegu, earlier this week
Workers from a disinfection service company sanitize a street in front of a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony where a woman known as ‘Patient 31’ attended a service in Daegu, South Korea, February 19, 2020
‘This is a shared achievement that we all have reached through last three weeks of strengthened social distancing.’
The spread of infections at a church in Daegu drove a massive spike in cases in South Korea beginning in late February.
The outbreak initially pushed the tally of confirmed cases much higher than anywhere else outside of China, before the country used widespread testing and social distancing measures to bring the numbers down.