SOKOR COVID CASES SURGE TO 900 ON DEC. 15, SCHOOLS SHUT DOWN

Korea's daily new coronavirus cases bounced back to nearly 900 Tuesday, December 15, after a brief fall the previous day, as the country struggles to curb the nationwide spread of the virus in winter, warning that the toughest virus curbs may be adopted, Yonhap News Agency reported from Seoul.

The country added 880 more COVID-19 cases, including 848 local infections, raising the total caseload to 44,363, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA.) Tuesday's daily virus caseload marked a rise from 718 on Monday, but it stayed below the largest daily caseload ever of 1,030 new cases on Sunday and 950 cases on Saturday.

Health authorities warn that the country's daily virus caseload may spike to 1,200 should the current pace be maintained. "The latest transmissions are mostly traced to families, acquaintances and colleagues," KDCA chief Jeong Eun-kyeong said in a daily briefing Monday, urging people to avoid year-end gatherings.

Late on December 14, Sangmi Cha of the Associated Press (AP) reported that South Korea ordered schools to close from Tuesday in the capital Seoul and surrounding areas as it battles its worst outbreak of novel coronavirus since the pandemic began, surpassing the previous peak in February.

Schools in the capital region would move classes online until the end of the month, in the latest ratcheting up of social distancing measures which so far have failed to reverse the spike in infections. The school closure is a step towards the imposition of Phase 3 social distancing rules, a move that would essentially lock down Asia's fourth-largest economy.

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