사흘 연속 코로나19 확진자 천 명 넘어...정부 백신 브리핑 발표<br /><br />We start with the coronavirus situation in the country.<br />South Korea has now reported more than a thousand daily COVID-19 cases for three days in a row.<br />As the crisis worsens,... health authorities are continuing their push to secure as many vaccines as possible.<br />In fact, they provided more details about their plans in a briefing that wrapped up around an hour ago.<br />For more, we have our Choi Won-jong on the line.<br />Wonjong, what can you tell us?<br />Mark, today's briefing was more about the South Korean government being transparent with the public on the COVID-19 vaccine. Here's part of what they said. Let's take a listen...<br />"We already signed a purchase deal with AstraZeneca, and we will complete the contract with Janssen as early as next week. Pfizer is currently under the review."<br />And, the official reiterated the government's previous pledge that they will secure enough vaccines for 44 million people.<br />They said AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine will be the first vaccine introduced in the first quarter of 2021.<br />However, the briefing did not mention any specific schedules like inoculation dates due to non-disclosure agreements with the suppliers.<br />Wonjong, moving away from the vaccine situation. We can see the virus taking a stronger grip on South Korea. We have now seen three days in a row with a thousand-plus cases...<br />That's right. On Friday, South Korea confirmed an additional one-thousand-sixty-two COVID-19 cases.<br />It marks the third straight day that the new daily caseload has been in the four digits.<br />All but 26 were locally transmitted.<br />Seoul alone had 3-hundred 98 new cases.<br />This brings the total national caseload to more than 47-thousand.<br />Eleven more people died.<br />Pointing out some of the major clusters, multiple cases were found at local saunas...16 in Jeju and 11 in Chungcheongbuk-do Province.<br />We continue to see large cluster infections at churches in Seoul and Chungcheongnam-do Province.<br />The government is still cautiously monitoring the situation and deciding whether to raise social distancing levels to the highest tier.<br />There are concerns such a move would do tremendous economic damage.<br />However, health authorities are urging people to follow prevention guidelines before they decide on their next move with local government officials and experts.<br />That's all I have for you now. Back to you, Mark.<br />
