Asia Today: South Korea Mulls Shorter Hours For Diners

SEOUL, South Korea: South Korean officials are considering reducing working hours of restaurants and cafes as the country counted its 15th straight day of triple-digit jumps in coronavirus infections.

The 371 new cases reported by the South Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday brought the national caseload to 19,077, including 316 deaths. The country has added more than 4,300 to its caseload over the past 15 days, prompting concerns about overwhelming hospitals.

KCDC said 286 of the new cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, bumping the regions caseload to 7,200 and overtaking the southeastern city of Daegu, the epicenter of a massive outbreak in late February and March that was stabilized by April.

Health workers have found it more difficult to contain the recent transmissions centered around the more populated capital area, where clusters have been tied to churches, restaurants and schools.

While government has recently banned large gatherings and shut down nightspots and churches nationwide, there are calls for elevating social distancing measures to the highest level. It would prohibit gatherings of more than 10 and advise private companies to have employees work from home.

But Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a virus meeting Friday that the government wasnt ready to implement Level 3 restrictions yet, citing concerns about hurting the economy that policymakers say will likely shrink for the first time in 22 years. Chung said officials will instead explore other ways to improve distancing.

In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:

Australias hard-hit Victoria state on Friday reported 113 new COVID-19 cases for a second consecutive day, with authorities warning that the infection rate will have to fall substantially if a six-week lockdown is to be relaxed on schedule on Sept. 13. The latest daily tallies are the lowest in more than eight weeks, with a peak of 725 in early August. The latest death toll dropped to 12 from 23 on Thursday. Authorities want daily infections to fall at least to low double-digits before they would consider relaxing restrictions. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said: Were clearly still trending in the right direction. … Its not gotten below 100 yet, I do expect that to happen, if not over the weekend, then by next week, if trends continue.”

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