South Korea has shut down schools in Seoul and the surrounding areas and dispatched hundreds of Special Forces officers to support contact tracing efforts, as the government tightened measures amid a third Covid-19 wave that has pushed the total number of infections beyond 43,000.
South Korea yesterday reported 718 cases, down from Sunday's record high of 1,030 cases and Saturday's 950 infections. But the number is worrying as Monday's figures tend to be lower due to fewer tests conducted over the weekend.
Health officials have warned that the daily figure could spike to 1,200 if the pace of infection does not slow down. The outbreak is currently fuelled by two major clusters at a restaurant and a church in Seoul, and numerous small clusters across the country.
All elementary schools and kindergartens in Seoul and Greater Seoul will switch to online learning from today until the end of the year. Middle and high schools were ordered to go online since Dec 7.
The army yesterday sent 379 officers from the Special Warfare Command to 79 public health centres in the capital to support Covid-19 efforts for two months, such as contact tracing and transferring virus samples.
The Ministry of National Defence also dispatched 56 military doctors and 18 nurses to some of the 150 temporary testing centres to be set up from yesterday.
Long queues were seen at some of these sites, which offer free and anonymous testing.
Calls have grown for the government to implement the highest level of its five-tier social distancing system. Under Level 3 - one notch higher than the current Level 2.5 and to be imposed when new cases surge to 800 to 1,000 per day - gatherings of 10 or more people will be banned.
Non-essential facilities such as movie theatres and restaurants will be closed and all employees, except those in essential services, will work from home.
Over two million facilities and businesses will be affected, said the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Level 3 is a "last resort" that "requires a careful review", Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said yesterday. Experts have raised concerns over the growing transmission rate and shortage of hospital beds. Over 10,000 confirmed patients are undergoing treatment.
About 500 patients a day are waiting at home for admission.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said the reproduction number is now 1.28, which means each patient infects more than one person.
About 3 per cent to 4 per cent of the people who were tested last week turned out positive, which experts say indicates a high rate of transmission in the community.
The Seoul city government will open 18 residential treatment centres this week to provide 1,577 beds for patients with mild symptoms. The city has nine such centres now.
Five mega churches have also offered their facilities in Greater Seoul to be turned into residential treatment centres. This will provide a total of 890 rooms.
Meanwhile, some are busy stocking up food and other supplies. Mr Andrew Kim, 46, who is self-employed, told The Straits Times: "Everyone is thinking the same thing - to be prepared for the worst."
He added: "It's easy to order groceries and food online, but you have to pay delivery fees which we can save for rainy days later."
