South Korea reports more than 500 new Covid-19 cases for the third day

South Korea reported 504 coronavirus cases on Saturday, marking the third consecutive day of more than 500 cases in a row, the nation’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced.

Of those, 486 are locally transmitted cases and 18 are imported, added the KDCA.

The new cases bring the national tally to 33,375 coronavirus cases. South Korea also reported six additional coronavirus deaths, taking the national death toll to 522.

The nation’s capital Seoul logged 178 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to the City Government. 

Increased restrictions: Seoul has been under Level 2 social distancing measures since Tuesday. 

The rise in cases comes ahead of the country’s national college entrance exam, which nearly 500,000 students are expected to sit.

On Friday, the KDCA urged people to “cancel all meetings” in light of the upsurge in coronavirus cases. 

On Thursday, the Defense Ministry implemented a Level 2.5 social distancing protocol, the second-highest level of alert applicable to all military bases. Under that level, all vacations and off-base travel are suspended, in-person meetings and events are banned, and religious services are switched to online. 

The alert level was announced after a cluster of 68 coronavirus cases was detected at a recruit training centre on Thursday. The Defense Ministry says 20 additional cases were found in the military on Saturday.

Health care: The central government is also in the process of reviewing healthcare protocol for patients suffering from coronavirus, in case of future bed shortages in hospitals. 

On Saturday, the government announced that it completed an initial stage review for providing home care for coronavirus patients with mild symptoms and for children infected with the virus.

Further discussions on the move are ongoing with experts, the government health official added.