코로나 신규 확진자 역대 최다 1078명… 거리두기 3단계 범위 진입<br /><br />Starting off with the COVID-19 situation here in South Korea.<br />The "third wave" of the coronavirus reached a new high in the country today,... with close to eleven-hundred cases.<br />Cluster infections are popping up at religious facilities and nursing homes.<br />For more, we connect to our Choi Jeong-yoon.<br />Jeong-yoon what's the figure today?<br />Mark, South Korea reported one-thousand-78 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.<br />This is the highest daily figure of the outbreak so far.<br />It's the second time the country has surpassed the thousand mark in less than five days after recording some 1030 cases on Sunday.<br />With an average of some 860 cases over the past seven days... recent figures have reached the threshold for level three social distancing, which is an average of 8-hundred to over a thousand daily cases, or if the number doubles dramatically.<br />Even though calls to implement the strongest antivirus measures are growing, authorities are rather cautious considering the massive social and economic impact it would have.<br />Health authorities rather called for citizens' active cooperation so that further spread can be halted under distancing level two-point-five.<br />"As distancing level three is the strongest, and the last resort that would cause a wide range of damage to small business owners, the government is taking in experts' opinion and reviewing gradual increases in distancing measures."<br />Of today's caseload, one-thousand-54 were local transmissions and 24 came from overseas.<br />Cluster infections have been found at religious facilities as well as nursing homes across the country.<br />Health Authorities are suing some church goers in Chungcheongbuk-do Province who held gatherings against restrictions.<br />The country also saw twelve additional deaths, the second day in a row that deaths have been in the double digits.<br />That takes the total deaths to 612.<br />With the surge in cases, the Seoul city government will have all workers who are working in close contact with others to get preemptive tests.<br />That includes delivery workers and people working in call centers, nursing homes and public transport.<br />Health authorities are also focusing on securing as many as 10-thousand sickbeds.<br />Already, almost 900 extra sickbeds in living treatment centers and some twenty intensive care units for critically ill patients have been secured.<br />The government has specifically separated standards for sickbeds for better monitoring and is actively seeking cooperation with private hospitals to secure more beds.<br />Back to you, Mark.<br />
