South Korea’s president has declared “war” against coronavirus on Tuesday, ordering more hospital beds and face masks to be made available as the country’s total cases have risen to 5,000, the largest in the world outside China.
While addressing the high rise of the disease in South Korea, President Moon Jae-in apologised for shortages of face masks and promised support for virus-hit small businesses in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, which reported 851 new cases and three more deaths on Tuesday.
This brings its total number to 5,186 cases and 28 deaths, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.
Moon said the government will inject more than 30 trillion won (US$25 billion) into the economy to address the “grave” situation brought on by the outbreak.
“The entire country has entered a war with the infectious disease,” Moon said, ordering all government agencies to operate around the clock.
“I am very sorry to the people that we are not able to supply masks swiftly and sufficiently, and have caused inconvenience.”
This comes after Lee Man-hee, the leader of the South Korean ‘cult’ accused of spreading coronavirus in South Korea, begged for forgiveness as he admitted that ‘many people have been infected’ after an outbreak at his Shincheonji cult.
The secretive church is linked to more than half of South Korea’s 4,000 coronavirus cases and the numbers are also expected to rise further as 260,000 people associated with Shincheonji are being tested for the virus.
