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 The daily tally was the second-highest since the start of the
pandemic, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention
Agency (KDCA). New cases have been consistently around 600 over the
past week.
Tougher social distancing rules took effect on Tuesday, including
curfews on restaurants and most other businesses.
The government has also introduced a new testing method to cater to
surging demand, and eased rules to release some recovered patients
faster to free up hospital beds.
"Testing is very critical to cutting the chained transmission,"
health official Yoon Tae-ho told a briefing.
Many of the cases had been found in young people who had been highly
mobile, making it more difficult to trace infections, he said.
The government has signed deals with four global drugmakers as part
of a programme to procure COVID-19 vaccines for 44 million people.
President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday urged the authorities to continue
to make efforts in securing additional vaccines, taking the people's
safety and lives as the top priority even if that adds financial
constraints.
"The vaccines we've secured for 44 million are sufficient to bring
herd immunity to our people. But it is too early to be at ease,
considering that the vaccines have been developed very urgently and
there could be an unexpected situation," Moon told an emergency
meeting.
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He also called for drawing up an early inoculation plan so that vaccination will
begin as soon as the shipments arrive.
The health ministry had said shipments would begin no later than March, and
vaccinations may start in the first half of next year depending on factors such
as observations in other countries about their safety, the spread of COVID-19
and public demand.
South Korea's total infections stand at 39,432, with 556 deaths.
The U.S. military command in South Korea apologised after photos showed people
without masks dancing close together at entertainment spots on two American
bases in the country.
The recent events "displayed poor judgment and actions inconsistent" with the
command's tenets and virus-prevention measures, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said in
a statement.
Two venues were closed on the bases and the command said it would follow the
South Korean government's social distancing rules as well as its own guidelines.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith, Additional reporting by Sangmi Cha;
Editing by Stephen Coates and Angus MacSwan)
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