South Korea records highest daily rise since March

South Korea recorded 397 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the highest single day increase since early March, South Korea’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has announced.

All but 10 of the new cases were locally transmitted, with the majority of them reported in the Seoul Metropolitan area, according to Director Jung Eun-kyeong of the KCDC. Jung said that as of today, 841 cases have been linked to a cluster of infections linked to an outbreak at the Sarang-jeil church.

South Korea led the world with its model coronavirus response, carrying out a rigorous testing, tracing and quarantining program that enable the country to prevent case numbers spiralling.

But more recently it has struggled to deal with small outbreaks. It has shut down most entertainment venues and beaches nationwide after several clusters of cases.

Jung warned that South Korea had yet to see the peak of this new wave of infections despite the country recording 10 consecutive days of a triple-digit increases in confirmed cases.

South Korea has 17,399 confirmed cases and the death toll remains at 309, JHU reports.