S.Korea coronavirus spike stirs second wave concern, social distancing crackdown

South Korea reported 79 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most in nearly eight weeks, triggering the return of tougher social distancing curbs amid the spectre of a second wave of disease in a country praised for containing the first outbreak.

At least 82 cases this week have been linked to a cluster of infections at a logistics facility run by Coupang Corp, one of the country's largest online shopping firms, in Bucheon, west of Seoul, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

About 4,100 workers, including 603 delivery people, at the warehouse were believed to have not properly followed social distancing and protective measures, such as mask wearing, KCDC deputy director Kwon Jun-wook told a briefing.


Coupang, one of a group of e-commerce firms whose plants have scrambled to fill a surge in demand, has said the Bucheon centre was disinfected every day, with all employees wearing masks and gloves and their temperatures checked.

"We'll take every measure we can take until safety is confirmed," a Coupang spokeswoman said.

The new cases on a third straight day of rising infections took South Korea's tally to 11,344 with 269 deaths by midnight on Wednesday. A robust testing programme this year was credited with keeping deaths comparatively low in a global pandemic that has now killed more than 350,000.