SKorea declares Daegu as 'special zone' over infections

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has declared the southeast city of Daegu and the surrounding region as a “special management zone” following an explosion in infections of the new coronavirus that city officials say threaten to overwhelm the region’s health system.

Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun on Friday said the national government will concentrate its support to the region to ease a shortage in sickbeds, medical personnel and equipment.

Sixty-nine cases of COVID-19 infections, as well as the country’s first death of a virus patient, have been confirmed in the southeast city of Daegu and nearby areas over Wednesday and Thursday, a sudden jump that triggered fears that the outbreak is getting out of control.

The surge of infections in the Daegu area and several cases in the capital Seoul, where infection routes weren’t immediately traceable, forced government officials to acknowledge for the first time on Thursday that the virus has begun to circulate in the local population.

South Korea has so far reported 104 cases of the illness imported from China, where more than 2,000 patients have died among about 74,500 people sickened.