Seoul to monitor call-center cluster; Tokyo to give aid to boost medical supplies output

SEOUL－The number of new coronavirus cases in Asian countries is rising and they have unveiled more measures and plans to contain the outbreak, as well as treat the growing number of patients.

South Korea reported 242 new cases, which were detected on Tuesday, reversing five straight days of fewer new cases. The increase took the country's number of infections to 7,755, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Of the new cases, 93 were found to be linked to a call center in Sindorim in southwestern Seoul, spawning concerns about potential mass transmission in the metropolitan area.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said at a news briefing that the city "will make sure to respond in a certain and meticulous manner" to avoid group transmission developing into the cases seen in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.

The call center infection is so far the biggest COVID-19 infection cluster in Seoul.

The Seoul city government said it plans to monitor around 400 call centers in the capital and ask owners of karaoke rooms, clubs and internet cafes to suspend their business, if possible.

Also, to cope with an increase in confirmed cases in Seoul and its neighboring areas, the authorities will ask local governments to set up isolation facilities, said Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought event cancellations for 10 more days as the country "to prevent any rapid spread of domestic infections".

The government has decided to provide subsidies to help companies boost the production of sterilizing alcohol as a response to a shortage.

The industry ministry said the output of sterilizing alcohol last month was 80 percent higher than a year earlier, but it was still not enough to meet surging demand.

The subsidy will be capped around 30 million yen ($286,000) per production line.

On Wednesday, an NHK poll showed that anxiety about the coronavirus is growing in Japan, 74 percent of 1,240 respondents saying they were worried, and 45 percent saying they do not believe this summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held as planned.

As of Wednesday, Japan had reported 600 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

'Voluntary work'

In Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, all of the 28 hospital of the Army Ground Force in the country were ready to assist the health ministry in treating coronavirus patients, said Behzad Mo'meni, the chief of the force's medical department.

Mo'meni said on Tuesday that the army was "proud to do voluntary work for the health ministry", and that army hospitals had been receiving coronavirus cases since the early days of the outbreak, according to the Tasnim News Agency.

The Army Ground Force would begin to establish convalescent homes next week and it would also help the discharged patients to rejoin their families, he said.

Iran reported 958 new infections and 63 new deaths on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 9,000, with 354 deaths, the health ministry spokesman said.

The Philippine Department of Health said on Wednesday that 16 more people had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total of COVID-19 cases in the country to 49.

Separately, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a proclamation declaring a state of public health emergency as anxiety mounts over the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

He has also ordered a temporary suspension of school classes in the National Capital Region to prevent transmission in Metro Manila after the number of cases more than doubled on Monday.

Wang Xu in Tokyo and Xinhua contributed to this story.

Xinhua