South Korea posted its second-highest daily number of coronavirus cases on Saturday as outbreaks at a prison, nursing homes and churches continued to grow, prompting authorities to plead for a halt to all year-end gatherings. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said there were 1,132 new coronavirus cases on Friday, not too far off the record of 1,241 logged a day earlier. South Korea had largely managed to control early major outbreaks with aggressive testing and contact tracing. The current largest cluster is at a prison in eastern Seoul, where 514 inmates and workers have been infected, prompting health authorities to test all people there. The virus likely spread easily as the prison consists of five, high-rise buildings and suffers from over-capacity, a health official said.

Source: Mint December 26, 2020 10:54 UTC