S.Korea ups anti-COVID-19 fight as cases near 900

Seoul: With the number of confirmed coronavirus cases nearing 900 on Tuesday, South Korea has vowed to maximize its containment measures in Daegu city and the neighbouring North Gyeongsang Province, where 724 infections were reported so far.

Sixty additional cases reported on Tuesday morning brought the nation's total infections to 893, Yonhap News Agency quoted the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) as saying.

So far, nine people have died in South Korea.

Tuesday's increase was lesser than the 161 new cases reported on Monday.

Two clusters of infections -- at a branch of a religious sect in Daegu and a hospital in the neighbouring county of Cheongdo -- have continued to expand, taking up 69 per cent of the total cases in the country.

Earlier in the day, the government, the ruling Democratic Party and the presidential office decided to implement stepped-up containment measures in Daegu and North Gyeongsang but said there was no lockdown in the regions.

The government has designated Daegu and Cheongdo as "special care zones" to better cope with the outbreak of COVID-19.

Health authorities have said they plan to test all followers of Shincheonji Church of Jejus as about 56 pe rcent of the all confirmed virus cases in the country were traced to the minor religious sect's worship services in Daegu, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The Shincheonji church has agreed to provide a list of its worshippers, estimated at 200,000, and their contact numbers to support state quarantine efforts to curb the fast spread of COVID-19.