(LEAD) Another mass infection case reported at nursing home: KCDC

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with latest numbers)

SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) -- A total of 49 people at a nursing home in southeastern North Gyeongsang Province have been infected with the novel coronavirus, the latest in a series of mass infection cases here, health authorities said Thursday.

The nursing home, located in Bongwha County, 245 kilometers southeast of Seoul, added 13 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 later Thursday, some four hours after it reported 34 infection cases out of 112 patients and staff earlier in the day. The nursing home reported its first two cases on Wednesday.

Another 82 patients and staff are being tested for the virus.

County officials said it had quarantined some 90 people from a hospital in the area and conducted virus tests. All of them have tested negative for the virus. The county authorities carried out disinfection work at the facility.

South Korea had reported 6,088 confirmed cases of the novel virus and 42 deaths as of Thursday, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and local governments.

The KCDC said about 70 percent of the confirmed cases are classified as cluster or mass infection cases, with the remainder either labeled as sporadic infections or are under investigation.

Of the total, 4,327 cases occurred in Daegu and 861 in nearby North Gyeongsang Province. About 70 percent of the cases there are linked to the Shincheonji religious sect.

khj@yna.co.kr
(END)