South Korea's virus fight is reaching a critical phase as its daily new patients surpassed 300 for the first time since early March today, largely due to church-linked cluster infections in the wider capital area and other regions. The country added 324 more patients, including 315 local infections, raising the total caseload to 16,670, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Today's tally marked the most since March 8 when the daily virus cases reached 367. The number of daily infections has been in the triple digits since last Friday when 103 additional cases were reported, with about 1,900 cases being newly identified in the past eight days. Health authorities warned that the wider capital region should brace for another wave of the pandemic and that the country stands on the cusp of a nationwide outbreak.

Source: The Standard August 21, 2020 03:56 UTC