A South Korean super-spreader has been linked to dozens of new cases from one night out, amid panic after the Asian nation reopened.
The total number of cases linked to three nightclubs in Itaewon in Seoul, visited by a 29-year-old patient who had tested positive for coronavirus, increased to 54 as of Sunday afternoon, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
Authorities are estimating between 6,000 to 7,000 could have been exposed to the virus from clubs between April 29 and May 6, according to Bloomberg.
South Korea’s capital has shut down more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars and discos after infections were linked to club goers who went out last weekend as the country relaxed social distancing guidelines.
The measures imposed yesterday by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon came after the national government urged entertainment venues around the nation to close or otherwise enforce anti-virus measures, including distancing, temperature checks, keeping customer lists and requiring employees to wear masks.
Park said the entry bans on the facilities will be maintained until the city concludes that risks of infection have been meaningfully lowered.
Eleven of the 54 confirmed cases are secondary infections. The infection rate is highest for those who visited King Club in Itaewon on May 2, and more than 30 per cent of the confirmed patients are asymptomatic.
The number of infections could grow as health workers are scrambling to trace contacts of club goers.
Park said health workers have been attempting to contact some 1,940 people who were listed as visitors to the three Itaewon clubs and other venues nearby, but they have so far been able to reach only 637 of them.
South Korea has confirmed at least 10,874 cases of the coronavirus, including 256 deaths.
Fewer cases in previous weeks had allowed for social distancing guidelines to be relaxed and a phased reopening of schools.
DailyMailUK