Number of coronavirus cases in South Korea rises to 27 - Health Authorities

The people in question are a married couple that visited China's Guangdong province from November to January 31.

Earlier, the man’s mother, who lives together with the couple, was diagnosed with the coronavirus too.

Meanwhile, three of the 27 infected people have recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

According to the Health Ministry, new rapid coronavirus tests are already available in 124 public health centers across the country. Now South Korea can daily perform up to 3,000 tests, but first of all, it will check those who have recently traveled abroad or clearly shows the corresponding symptoms.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said that South Korea would tighten quarantine screening for visitors from all countries with confirmed coronavirus cases and consider extending the entry ban for people traveling from Hubei to other Chinese provinces.

Earlier, South Korea has banned all foreigners who have visited Hubei province over the past two weeks from entering the country.

In addition, Seoul is planning to send a third charter flight from China’s Wuhan to evacuate 200 more South Koreans and their relatives, the consulate general in the city said. The country has already evacuated 701 nationals from Wuhan, while their relatives with Chinese citizenship had to stay in the virus-hit city.

The new strain of coronavirus – 2019-nCoV – was first detected in China’s city of Wuhan, central Hubei province, in December and has since spread to more than 20 countries. Currently, the death toll from the new coronavirus is 811 in China alone, with the total number of registered cases exceeding 37,000.