President Moon of South Korea warned of a ‘very grave’ outbreak as officials screened more than 200,000 ‘cult’ members for coronavirus and a Korean Air cabin crew member tested positive.
Residents in the southeastern city of Daegu wore vinyl gloves on trains, donned face-masks, contacted friends to ask if they were okay, and rushed to stores to stock up on rice and instant noodles.
The roads were also quiet and only a few people can be seen as workers wearing protective clothing sprayed disinfected at an empty department store.
More efforts to stop the spread have focused on the city as over 80 percent of the cases in South Korea was recognized there.
The country is testing 200,000 members of ‘cult’ which accounts for 68 percent of the region’s cases. 1,300 members of the Daegu church are already showing symptoms and have been quarantined with 8,000 other members.
A 61-year-old woman from the religious group first exhibited the symptoms but it was unlikely that this person started the chain of infections as she has no records of traveling overseas.
The airline said that a Korean Air cabin crew tested positive for coronavirus, making it to close its office near Incheon International airport.
According to KCDC, each polymerase chain reaction machine that South Korea is using to test for coronavirus is operating four tests per day as each test takes up to three hours.
As of February 25, South Korea reported its 10th death from coronavirus and more than 140 new cases, with a total of 977 cases since the outbreak started.
Daegu residents placed under quarantine expressed their fears of contracting the infection.
Oh Sang-hak, a taxi driver, said: “It’s like time has stopped … and there is just no movement. Until last week, we thought the coronavirus was someone else’s problem.”
37-year-old Choe Hee-suk said: “I’m also a human being and scared of contracting the virus. We call each other here and half-jokingly ask whether they are alive and tell each other not to wander around.”
63-year-old Lee Nag-Hyeon said he thinks the media reports have been exaggerated.
About half of the stores were closed at Daegu’s Gyodong traditional market. An official at an association of merchants said: “Maybe it would be better for all the merchants to shut their doors, but their means of a living are here. So some have made the difficult decision to open their shops.”
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Replaced!