Geneva: Many countries
that have been successful in tackling the corona virus are seeing an increase
in cases due to religious or leisure gatherings or in closed quarters like
nightclubs and dormitories since relaxing curbs, WHO officials said on Monday.
South Korea said for the first
time on Monday it was in the midst of a "second wave" of infections
around Seoul, driven by small but persistent outbreaks stemming from a holiday
in May.
"There are many countries
right now that have had success in suppressing transmission and bringing
human-to-human transmission to a low level that are starting to see increasing
cases," WHO epidemiologist and technical lead on the pandemic Maria Van
Kerkhove said, naming South Korea as one of them.
She stopped short of describing
it as a "second wave".
"Any opportunity that the
virus has to take hold, it will," she said, urging countries to "put
everything they can" into isolating such cases to prevent renewed
community transmission.
The WHO’s top emergencies expert,
Mike Ryan, said that there seemed to be new clusters in South Korea linked to
clubs, shelters and amusement parks but said that overall case numbers were
"very, very stable or actually dropping" and praised Seoul's
approach.
"My understanding is that
the vast majority of cases being detected are linked to existing and recognised
clusters and as such the South Korean authorities still have great visibility
over where the virus is and the dynamics within which the chains are transmitting,"
he said. Reuters
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