SEOUL (Xinhua): South Korea reported 22 more cases of the Covid-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Friday (April 17) local time, raising the total number of infections to 10,635.
The daily caseload hovered below 30 for the fifth straight day. Of the new cases, 14 were imported from overseas, raising the combined number to 983.
One more death was confirmed, lifting the death toll to 230. The total fatality rate came in at 2.16 per cent.
A total of 72 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 7,829 and the total recovery rate at 73.6 per cent.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has updated the data once a day at 10am local time from March 10, after having announced it twice a day.
Except for the first 30 cases, all the infections have been reported since Feb 18. The country has raised its four-tier virus alert to the highest "red" level.
The total number of infections in Daegu, about 300km southeast of Seoul, and its surrounding North Gyeongsang province came to 6,827 and 1,356 respectively, accounting for almost 80 per cent of the total.
The numbers in Seoul and its adjacent Gyeonggi province came in at 621 and 650 each.
Daegu became the epicenter of the viral spread here as the biggest cluster of infections was found in the metropolis with 2.5 million population. Daegu has been designated by the government as a "special disaster zone."
The Daegu cluster was closely linked to the church services of a homegrown minor religious sect, called Sincheonji, in Daegu. Members of the sect are known to sit on the floor closely side by side during church services.
Since Jan 3, the country has tested more than 546,000 people, among whom 521,642 tested negative for the virus and 14,186 were being checked. - Xinhua
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