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A church in South Korea sprayed salt water inside the mouths of followers out of a false belief it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but by using the same spray bottle without disinfecting the nozzle, it resulted in 46 church-goers infected, authorities said on Monday.

South Korea had 7,513 Covid-19 cases as of Monday, with daily infections falling for a fourth consecutive day Officials attribute the decrease to mass testing, improved public communication and the use of advanced technology ===================================================================== South Korea has seen a steady decrease in new coronavirus cases for four consecutive days, despite being one of the worst-affected countries outside China , although global attention has shifted towards outbreaks in Italy and Iran . As of end-Monday, it had 7,513 cases and 54 deaths. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said there was an increase of 131 cases from...

SEOUL (AFP, THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Two South Korean apartment buildings heavily occupied by members of a sect linked to most of the country's coronavirus cases have been quarantined after dozens of residents tested positive for the disease, an official said on Saturday (March 7). The move comes as the country, which has the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world outside China, reported 448 new infections, taking its total to 7,041. Another two deaths were reported by the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, bringing the toll to 44. (Please see link for full...

South Korea has tested more than 140,000 people for the new coronavirus and confirmed more than 6,000 cases. Its fatality rate is around 0.6%. This suggests that, as many health experts have predicted, the virus' fatality rate seems to decrease as more cases are reported. That's because more widespread testing leads more mild cases to be included in the count. The US, by contrast, has tested around 1,500 people. The country has 221 confirmed cases and 12 deaths, suggesting a death rate of 5%. The US' testing capacity has been limited.

Large-scale testing in South Korea has provided perhaps the most credible look at the lethality of the new coronavirus as it continues its global spread. Within a month of confirming its first case of the new coronavirus on January 20, South Korea had tested nearly 8,000 people suspected of infection. A little over a week later, that number had soared to 82,000 as health officials mobilized to carry out as many 10,000 tests each day. Neighboring Japan, on the other hand, tested only a fraction of that number, with fewer than 2,000 people checked on any given day since the...

SEOUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korea confirmed 851 more cases of the COVID-19 on Tuesday, raising the total number of infections to 5,186. As of 4:00 p.m. local time (0700 GMT), the number of infected patients totaled 5,186, up 851 from 24 hours ago. Five more deaths were reported, lifting the combined death toll to 31. The fatality rate from the COVID-19 here was 0.6 percent as of midnight local time. The figure gained to 4.0 percent for those in their 70s and 5.4 percent among those in their 80s or higher. (Please see full article at link)

Spike in South Korea: South Korea announced 231 new cases today, with the nationwide total surging past 830. More than half of those are associated with a branch of a religious group.

South Korea spike: Cases in the Asian country have surged past 340 after more than 140 new infections were reported on Saturday. Nearly half of the total cases are associated with a religious group in the south of the country.

The Health Ministry on Saturday said nine South Koreans tested positive for the coronavirus after a recent visit to Israel. The Koreans were in Israel from February 8-15 and were confirmed to have the virus upon their return to South Korea, according to a statement from the ministry. The ministry called on anyone who was in close contact with the Koreans to report this and self-quarantine for 14 days from the date of their last interaction. Chuncheon, South Korea, February 22, 2020. (Yonhap/AFP) The Health Ministry on Saturday said nine South Koreans tested positive for the coronavirus after a recent...

The coronavirus outbreak showed dangerous signs of breaking out beyond China on Friday, as new cases were reported in the Middle East and large clusters emerged around Asia. Countries were closing their borders with Iran as health officials scrambled to make sense of reports out of Tehran suggesting that the virus was being transmitted more widely than officials there have publicly acknowledged. As recently as Tuesday, Iranian officials had said there were no cases of the virus in the country. By Friday, however, they acknowledged 18 cases in three cities, with four deaths... At the same time, a surge in...

The mayor of South Korean city of Daegu said it was facing an “unprecedented crisis” after a series coronavirus infections linked to a single church service, as worries mounted in the country. The number of cases of coronavirus in South Korea has doubled in 24 hours, reaching 204. [snip] Hundreds of new coronavirus cases in China on Friday traced back to four prisons on the mainland, including two in Hubei, the center of the outbreak. In Hubei, the Wuhan Women’s prison has 230 cases, and the Shayang Hanjin prison reported 41 on Friday. Rencheng Jail in eastern China’s Shandong province...