COVID-19 in 수도권 22 cases... Daily new confirmed cases drop to low 100s

Concerns over mass infection from call center reduced
But still too early to be assured about infection possibility through close contacts

A closure notice is posted on the Korea Building in Guro-gu, Seoul, where a COVID-19 cluster infection occurred on the 12th. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Dae-yeol, Kim Heung-soon] On the 12th, the day the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic, 114 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) were identified in South Korea, half the number compared to the previous day (242 cases).

This is the first time in about 20 days since February 22 (190 cases) that the daily new cases have dropped to the low 100s. There had been concerns that the number of cases in the Seoul metropolitan area would sharply increase due to a large-scale cluster infection at a call center in Guro-gu, Seoul, but the newly confirmed cases in the metropolitan area on this day were 22, fewer than the previous day’s 76. However, the possibility of infection through close contacts such as other employees at the call center or family members of existing confirmed cases remains, so it is too early to be assured.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, as of midnight on this day, 19 new cases were confirmed in Seoul and 3 in Gyeonggi Province. No additional cases were reported in Incheon. In Daegu and Gyeongbuk, 81 new cases were confirmed, and 5 in Sejong. Including the 114 newly added cases on this day, the total cumulative number of confirmed cases in South Korea rose to 7,869.

Since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in South Korea on January 20, the number of cases had been about one per day for the first month. After a Shincheonji Church of Jesus member was confirmed positive on February 18, mass testing of church members in the Daegu area led to a rapid increase in new cases by the hundreds per day. On February 25 and March 10, the daily new cases were 130 and 131 respectively, which was due to fewer specimens collected over the weekend. Nevertheless, testing is still ongoing at the Guro call center, considered the largest cluster infection in the metropolitan area, and sporadic cluster infections remain possible nationwide, so health authorities remain vigilant.

Meanwhile, the number of people released from quarantine increased by 45 to a total of 333. The death toll rose by 7 from the previous day, reaching a total of 67 deaths due to COVID-19. Diagnostic tests increased by 12,603 from the previous day, bringing the total to 234,998 tests conducted.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.