South Korea confirms second wave of coronavirus

Health authorities say the second wave began in early May

Seoul-South-Korea-AP Visitors wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus walk at a park in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, June 20, 2020 | AP Photo/Lee Jin-man

The director of South Korea’s Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) Jeong Eun-kyeong has confirmed for the first time that the country is in the midst of a second wave of the novel coronavirus

According to the KCDC on Monday, the first wave took place from March to April, as well as from February to March, while the second wave was triggered during the holiday week between April 30 and May 5, when a cluster was identified as being linked to a nightlife district in Itaewon in Seoul, as well as to a distribution centre just west of Seoul, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

“Our forecast that virus infections would decline in summer turned out to be wrong. As long as people are having close contact with others, we believe that infections will continue,” Jeong confirmed.

However, the wave does not appear to be unmanageable, as the country added just 17 new cases, including 11 local infections, with the total caseload being 12,438.

On Monday, World Health Organisation officials noted that many countries had been successful in the fight against COVID-19, including South Korea as among them, as noted by WHO epidemiologist and technical lead on the pandemic Maria Van Kerkhove.

WHO’s Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme, Michael Ryan, said that while there appeared to be new clusters in South Korea linked to clubs, shelters and amusement parks, overall case numbers were "very, very stable" or actually dropping.

"My understanding is that the vast majority of cases being detected are linked to existing and recognised clusters and as such the South Korean authorities still have great visibility over where the virus is and the dynamics within which the chains are transmitting," he said, as reported by Reuters.