Americans Warned Against Travel To South Korea As COVID-19 Infections Rise

As coronavirus cases continue to rise in more countries, South Korea reported 10th death and nearly 1000 infections from the disease.

South Korea has seen a massive rise in COVID-19 infection, with the number jumping from about 30 to 977 within a week.

The United States and Taiwan have tightened travel restriction to South Korea, while seven countries imposed entry ban on visitors from that country.

The governments that banned visitors from South Korea are Israel, Bahrain, Jordan, Kiribati, Hong Kong, Nauru and Mauritius, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its warning level to 3, recommending that U.S. citizens should avoid all nonessential travel to South Korea. There is limited access to adequate medical care in affected areas, it said in a travel notice issued Monday.

The State Department has raised its travel advisory for the east Asian nation to Level 2.

With more than 600 passengers and crew in the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess tested positive for the virus off Japan, it represented the largest cluster of COVID-19 cases outside China until last week. But now South Korea has seen the highest numbers of coronavirus cases outside China, the center of the outbreak.

More than half of the cases have been linked to a religious sect, reports said.

In this context, Archbishop of Seoul Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung announced that all masses and events in catholic churches in the capital have been suspended until March 10.

The COVID-19 death toll in China has crossed 2600, and the number of confirmed cases of infection rose to more than 80,000.

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