Move comes as South Asian nation report­s 31 deaths, over 5,000 cases of confir­med COVID-19ANKARA: South Korea declared a “war” against the coronavirus outbreak as the country recorded 374 new cases of COVID-19, with a death toll of 31 on Tuesday, according to local media. The report said the death toll from the virus has hit 31, while total number of coronavirus cases in South Korea rose to 5,186, with 374 new cases in the last 16 hours as of 08.37 pm on Tuesday, citing official data from the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, due to the deadly and fast-spreading outbreak, South Korea has cancelled some regional events, including Jinhae Gunhangje, Jeju Cherry Blossom and Gurye Sansuyu festivals, held annually across the country to welcome spring. South Korea is one of the badly affected countries after the mainland China, the epicentre of the new coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people across the world. The World Health Organization, which already declared the outbreak an international health emergency, has updated the global risk level to “very high”.

Source: The Express Tribune March 03, 2020 15:45 UTC